NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court postponed the Lavalin case for the 34th time after the CBI informed their inconvenience. Advocate S V Raju appearing for the CBI, informed the Supreme Court that he could not appear in the Lavalin case as he is busy in another case. The bench chaired by Justice Suryakant asked whether it should be postponed again or considered after some time. The Supreme Court also raised the question whether anyone has any objection after the CBI informed that S V Raju is in another court and will not appear today. With no one objecting, the Lavalin case was postponed for the 34th time. The court today heard the case as item 26, which has been postponed for a long time due to the inconvenience of both the defendant and the plaintiff.

The appeal filed by the CBI against the high court acquitting Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, former energy secretary K Mohanachandran and former joint secretary A Francis, is before the Supreme Court.

The then state cabinet decided to hand over the SNC Lavalin case to the CBI on March 1 in 2006. However, on December 4, 2006, the VS Government decided not to hand over the case to the CBI. On January 16 in 2007, the high court ordered to hand over the case to the CBI. On June 11 in 2009, the CBI filed a chargesheet making Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as the seventh accused.

On November 5 in 2013, a special CBI court dropped Pinarayi Vijayan from the accused list. On August 23 in 2017, the high court also exempted three people, including Pinarayi Vijayan, from the case. On December 19 in 2017, the CBI filed a plea challenging the high court verdict. On January 11 in 2018, the Supreme Court stayed the high court order that three officials, including Kasturi Ranga Iyer, should face trial. The case is in the new bench of the Supreme Court from August 27, 2020. The Supreme Court had postponed considering the case several times on the request of the CBI like this time.