KOCHI: Dismissing a plea of former chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter Veena T, and son-in-law and former minister P A Mohamed Riyas seeking leave to appeal in the CMRL payoff case, the Kerala High Court on Thursday observed that an accused in a corruption case has no legal right to be heard before the registration of an FIR.
A division bench comprising Justice K Natarajan and Justice Johnson John also upheld the single judge’s order directing the registration of an FIR in the case.
The bench observed that “the judgment has not affected the right of the applicants to pursue their constitutional or statutory remedy against the registration of the FIR and, in such a situation, it cannot be held that the applicants established a prima facie or arguable case for granting the leave sought for.”
The bench further observed that when sufficient material disclosing the commission of cognisable offences is furnished along with the information provided by the ED under Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, there is no need to conduct a preliminary inquiry.
HC: Graft case accused has no right to be heard before registering FIR
The court also held that an accused in a corruption case has no legal right to be heard before the registration of an FIR and cannot demand a preliminary inquiry before its registration.
Pinarayi and the other applicants contended that the single judge had allowed the petition and ordered the registration of an FIR without hearing them, causing serious prejudice to their interests.
The government had argued there was nothing wrong with conducting a preliminary inquiry before registering an FIR based on information provided by ED. It had decided to order a preliminary inquiry to verify the allegations contained in the information provided by the ED, as the agency had not furnished other materials connected with the case to the state police, the state government submitted.
Legal options
Leader of Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan, daughter Veena T, and son-in-law P A Mohamed Riyas can either approach the Kerala High Court seeking to quash the FIR registered against them or move the Supreme Court challenging the HC division bench’s order denying them leave to appeal against the single judge’s order directing the registration of the FIR.
However, approaching the Supreme Court may be delayed as the court will be closed from October 19 to 24 for the Dussehra vacation. “There will be a delay of one week in approaching the Supreme Court. But we have no plan to approach the Kerala High Court seeking to quash the FIR,” said a lawyer representing Pinarayi and the others before the HC.
