Lavalin case postponed to April 6

The Supreme Court on Tuesday once again deferred to April 6 the hearing in Kerala's controversial financial scandal in the SNCLavalin hydroelectric project of 1996-97, involving Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who was then the electricity minister, on the request of the CBI.

The petition was filed by the CBI against dropping Vijayan's name from the list of the accused. The CBI on Tuesday sought postponement of the hearing and the Court agreed to hear the case on April 6. This is the 27th time that the SC has deferred hearing on the petition. An additional solicitor general requested a full-day hearing of the case next week since the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who will be arguing the case, was busy in another court. A Bench of Ju st icesUU Lalit, Indira Banerjee and KM Joseph wanted to consider the case as the last on Tuesday if the Solicitor General was busy.