CBI opposes Kerala govt's plea to implead in case

CBI today opposed in the High Court the Kerala government's plea to implead in a revision petition filed by the agency challenging the discharge of CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and six others in a graft case.
Opposing the government application, CBI counsel stated that they were projecting the interest of the state. Therefore the state is not a necessary party to the proceedings.
When the state's application came up before Justice K Ramakrishnan, he asked CBI to file their objections.
The government had last week filed the impleading petition in the High Court stating that it had incurred heavy losses due to the contract for modernising three hydel projects awarded to Canada based SNC Lavalin in 1996 when the LDF government was in power.

The High Court had admitted the revision petition by CBI and activist T P Nandakumar, challenging the discharge of the accused by a CBI Court in Thiruvananthapuram recently.
CBI stated that government may change from time to time, but that the investigating agency has a consistent stand in the case.
CBI's case was that Vijayan, who was Power Minister in the state in 1996, had full knowledge about the "clandestine" dealings that the other accused had with SNC Lavalin while awarding contract for renovation of three power stations in the state.