At least four judges of the Kerala High Court have so far recused themselves from hearing the sensational Rs 374.5-crore SNC lavalin corruption case, in which State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan figures as a key accused, embarrassing the legal fraternity in the State.
A Congress MP was provoked into writing a protest letter to Kerala Chief Justice Manjula Chellur after Justice NK Balakrishnan recused himself from the case when he was to hear on Tuesday a revision petition filed by the CBI on Friday last challenging the discharge of Pinarayi and six co-accused by the Special CBI Court in Thiruvananthapuram on November 5.
Earlier, three other judges - Justices K Harilal, Thomas P Joseph and Ml Joseph Francis - had recused themselves from hearing a petition filed by TP Nandakumar, a magazine editor, challenging the Special CBI Court’s order. They had not cited any reason for the recusal. Pinarayi was the seventh accused in the case in which there were a total of nine accused.
Justice Balakrishnan did take up the case on Tuesday morning but he immediately said that he was recusing himself. He wrote in the file that he was avoiding hearing the case as he had once practiced as a junior to Congress leader and senior lawyer CK Sreedharan which legal experts said was not sufficient reason for recusing himself from the SNC lavalin case.
K Sudhakaran, Congress’s MP from Kannur, said he had written a letter to the Chief Justice seeking stern action against the judges who had recused themselves from hearing the case. “To the best of my knowledge, judges are refusing to hear the case because of fear for Pinarayi and due to threats from his henchmen,” Sudhakaran said.
Noted jurist Justice (Retd) VR Krishna Iyer said the judges who were recusing themselves from hearing cases did not deserve to serve in the judiciary. “If judges say that they will not hear a particular case, they should go, they simply should go. Judges are duty-bound to hear cases. If they don’t, we should ask them to get out of their job,” he said in Kochi.
State Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said the frequent recusal by judges seemed unnatural but he did not want to elaborate as the matter concerned the Judiciary. Senior lawyer and former left MP Sebastian Paul pointed out that the recusals might give rise unnecessary doubts and allegations about courts.
After Justice Balakrishnan refused to hear the case, Chief Justice Manjula Chellur handed it over to the bench of Justice K Ramakrishnan, who considered the CBI’s revision petition on Tuesday. Asking the CBI whether it was not necessary to let the Kerala Government implead in the case, he posted it for detailed hearing on February 11.
At the same time, Pinarayi Vijayan, who was leading a 26-day Kerala Raksha March of his party, refused to comment on the issue of the judges’ recusal. However, he said, “The SNC lavalin case could not be reopened now as the trial court has rejected it altogether. Some people who had other motives might have been disappointed due to this,” he said in Kollam.
The case pertains to the alleged corruption in the Rs 374.5-crore agreement between the Kerala State Electricity Board and Canadian utility company SNC lavalin for the repair and renovation of the Pallivasal, Senkulam and Panniyar hydel power projects. The agreement was finalised when Pinarayi was the State Power minister in 1998.
The revision petition filed by the CBI has sought invalidation of the Special CBI Court’s decision to exempt Pinarayi and six other accused without putting them to trial. The agency has complained that the trial court had taken the decision to discharge the accused without considering its findings with required seriousness.