The BJP and Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan welcomed the Kerala High Court order dismissing pleas by former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his kin to challenge the order registering an FIR against him in the alleged CMRL bribery case.
The CPI(M), on the other hand, claimed that the case against Vijayan, his daughter Veena T and her husband P A Mohamed Riyas was false and politically motivated and “a planned move” by the BJP and UDF to attack them and the Left party. Meanwhile, state Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said the High Court order was not a setback to the State Government, as it acted in accordance with the law, not out of any political vendetta. After the High Court denied permission to Vijayan, Veena and Riyas to file an appeal challenging a single-judge order directing the VACB to lodge an FIR against them, BJP leader Shone George told reporters that if the former CM “has a shred of shame,” he should resign from the post of opposition leader in the State Assembly.
George said that the State Government cannot help Viayan any more than it already has from the time it received a letter from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to register an FIR under the anti-graft law against the Marxist veteran and his family members. CPI(M) state secretary MV Govindan told reporters that the matter would be effectively dealt with politically and legally after examining the judgement. He also said the State Government should have filed an appeal against the single-judge order instead of implementing it immediately. He claimed that the High Court did not allow the Marxist veteran and his kin to file an appeal as an FIR had already been lodged by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB). The CPI(M) state secretary termed the vigilance case against Vijayan and others as a planned move of the ED and the UDF Government to attack the CPI(M) veteran and Riyas and, through them, the left party.
CPI(M) leader and former state minister MB Rajesh also spoke along similar lines, accusing the UDF Government of not filing an appeal and registering an FIR in haste.
Congress MLA Kuzhalnadan, at a press conference here, welcomed the verdict and said that when his plea for action against Vijayan in the CMRL matter was dismissed by the High Court, he was ridiculed inside and outside the assembly.
The Congress MLA said that the party and he have ample opportunity now to ridicule the former CM, but considering his age and years of political life, “we will not stoop to that level”.
He further said that since a single judge and a division bench said there was no need for a preliminary enquiry after the ED provided information, the Government should correct its stand if required.
A bench of Justices K Natarajan and Johnson John rejected the applications of Vijayan, his daughter Veena T and her husband PA Mohamed Riyas to file an appeal against the single judge’s October 9 order, while holding that “an accused in a corruption case has no legal right to be heard before registering the FIR.”
It said that since the applications were dismissed, the appeals were also dismissed.
It also said that the October 9 order “has not affected the applicants’ rights to pursue the constitutional statutory remedy against the registration of the FIR.”
The bench further said that when sufficient material disclosing commission of cognizable offences is furnished along with the information under Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), there was no necessity for conducting a preliminary inquiry.