New Delhi | The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan's plea seeking a probe against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his daughter, Veena Vijayan, in connection with alleged financial dealings involving the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL), saying political battles should be fought before electorates.
The Kerala High Court, on March 28, dismissed Kuzhalnadan's plea seeking a probe against the chief minister over the alleged financial transactions between his daughter's now-defunct IT firm and the CMRL, a private mining company.
"We have been consistently saying that you fight your political battles before the electorate and not in the court," a bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran said while refusing to admit the Congress MLA's plea.
As soon as the matter came up, the CJI made his stance clear to senior advocate Guru Krishna Kumar, who appeared in the court on behalf of Kuzhalnadan.
The senior lawyer argued that the high court had not found the plea politically motivated and at one stage, even noted that "there was something to be looked at".
The senior lawyer said there were three indisputable facts in the case and those included that there was a contract between the CMRL and Exalogic Solutions, a company owned by Veena Vijayan.
He said Exalogic Solutions received Rs 1.72 crore from the CMRL and during the proceedings before the Income Tax Interim Settlement Board, the CMRL admitted that no services were rendered by Veena Vijayan's company.
Kumar argued that while the high court had acknowledged that these facts created a "suspicion", it erred in holding that a complaint at the pre-cognisance stage must be based on "proven facts".
"By insisting on proven facts at the pre-cognisance stage, the high court committed an error," he said.
The bench, however, remained unmoved and reiterated that it would not interfere with the concurrent findings of both lower courts.
"Fight your political battles before the electorate. Don't use the court's forum," the CJI said.
Kuzhalnadan had moved the high court against a vigilance court order rejecting his plea for an investigation against Vijayan over the alleged financial transactions between the CMRL and Exalogic Solutions.
Justice K Babu had dismissed the plea, saying the MLA had "failed" to place before the vigilance court facts constituting the offence of corruption as alleged by him against the chief minister, his daughter and her company.
"In the given materials, the facts constituting the offences alleged for taking cognisance are not available," the high court had said, adding that the facts provided by the MLA "at the most triggered a suspicion".
It had also made clear that the dismissal of the plea did not preclude the Congress leader from filing a fresh complaint with adequate materials in the future.
The high court had also quashed the vigilance court's observation that Kuzhalnadan's plea was politically motivated, saying it was a "premature" and "unwarranted" view.
Along with Kuzhalnadan's revision petition, a similar plea by late social activist Gireesh Babu was also dismissed by the high court.
The activist died during the pendency of his petition and an amicus curiae was appointed to argue on his behalf.
The Congress has been targeting Vijayan, his daughter and the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Kerala, after a Malayalam daily reported that the CMRL paid a total of Rs 1.72 crore to the chief minister's daughter between 2017 and 2020.
Citing the ruling of an interim board for settlement, the report claimed that the CMRL previously had an agreement with Veena Vijayan's IT firm for consulting and software support services.
It was also alleged that though no service was rendered by her firm, the amount was paid on a monthly basis "due to her relationship with a prominent person".
