Setback for Pinarayi Vijayan; no stay on single bench order, court asks what is wrong with registering FIR

KOCHI: The Division Bench of the High Court has refused to grant an interim stay on the single-bench order directing the registration of an FIR in the CMRL-Exalogic deal. The court declined to stay the order immediately. It reserved its verdict on the special leave petition filed by Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan, seeking to set aside the single-bench order. Vijayan approached the Division Bench through a special leave petition as he was not a party to the petition considered by the single bench.

During the hearing, the state government defended the decision to conduct a preliminary inquiry. The Advocate General informed the court that the inquiry had been ordered because there was insufficient evidence to register a case at the initial stage.

The government argued that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had handed over only certain diary entries and had not provided witness statements or other documents. The Advocate General said the government's stand in favour of a preliminary inquiry remained unchanged and that the FIR had been registered as directed by the court. The government also alleged that petitioner K.M. Shahjahan was not a genuine litigant.

The ED, however, opposed Pinarayi Vijayan's petition. It questioned how the accused could appeal against an order passed by the single bench.

Meanwhile, the court asked what was wrong with registering an FIR against Pinarayi Vijayan. It also questioned whether the FIR could not have been registered even without an order from the single bench.