THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A Supreme Court bench consisting of justices UU Lalit and Vineet Saran will hear SNC-Lavalin graft case against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday. The bench will hear the CBI's appeal challenging the Kerala High Court (HC) order of August 2017 upholding Pinarayi Vijayan's discharge in the multi-crore graft case.

However, the case was listed 18 times before a bench headed by justice NV Ramana in the past, sources said. Considering lockdown due to COVID, the Court will hear petition via video conferencing. Meanwhile, former Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) chairman R Sivadasan, who is also the third accused in the case, has approached the court to postpone the appeal till the normal functioning of the court. The third accused also requested for a six week preparation time before the commencement of the hearing in an open court.

A CBI court in Thiruvananthapuram discharged Pinarayi Vijayan and six other accused in the case on November 5, 2013. The CBI again approached the Kerala High Court which also upheld the discharge of Pinarayi Vijayan and two others in the case. The court also set aside the discharge of three others and ruled that the case against them be revived in a trial court. Pinarayi Vijayan who denied the graft allegations maintained that the case was politically motivated.