Senior counsel representing Vijayan, his daughter Veena T and son-in-law and former minister P A Mohamed Riyas sought an interim stay on the order
Because eD had forwarded information under Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, responding to the bench’s query, advocate general K Jaju Babu argued that the state was not bound to register a case merely.
He said ED had supplied materials, including diary notes, but no statements, justifying a preliminary inquiry to verify the allegations. He also alleged that Shajahan was acting at ED’s behest and said the state had argued before the single bench that the petition was a PIL. The applications were filed as the appellants were not parties to the original petition. Senior counsel representing Vijayan, his daughter Veena T and son-in-law and former minister P A Mohamed Riyas sought an interim stay on the order and consequential proceedings, including registration of FIRs. Former advocate general K Gopalakrishna Kurup, appearing for the appellants, argued that the single bench had issued directions without hearing them. He, along with senior counsel S Sreekumar and T A Shaji, challenged the quashing of govt order constituting a special investigation team to conduct a preliminary inquiry based on materials supplied by ED. The AG submitted that two FIRs had already been registered in compliance with the single bench order, leaving no scope for relief in the appeals. However, V Sethunath, counsel for the petitioner, and assistant solicitor general P Sreekumar, representing ED, cited Supreme Court’s Vijay Madanlal Choudhary judgment to argue that registration of a vigilance case under the Prevention of Corruption Act was mandatory.
Earlier, during the pre-lunch hearing, the bench had questioned why the state govt ordered a preliminary inquiry instead of registering a case based on information supplied by ED about alleged corruption offences involving Vijayan, Veena and Riyas. Kochi: The high court on Tuesday reserved orders on applications filed by former chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family members seeking permission to appeal against a single bench order directing registration of a vigilance case against them in the alleged CMRL-Exalogic pay-off case.