Gold Smuggling Case : Kerala HC Single Bench Directs Listing Of Plea For CBI Probe Against Chief Minister As PIL

Sustaining the objections raised by the Registry, a single bench of the High Court of Kerala held on Thursday that a writ petition seeking CBI probe against the state's Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, in relation to the gold smuggling case, has to be treated as a 'Public Interest Litigation'.

Accordingly, a single bench of Justice V G Arun directed the matter to be placed before the Chief Justice for being allocated to the concerned division bench dealing with PILs.

The writ petition, filed by one Michael Varghese, was listed as "defect" matter before Justice V G Arun, after the petitioner's counsel, Advocate Mathews Nedumpara, objected to the Registry's stand that the matter has to be filed as a PIL.

Advocate Nedumpara submitted that he was "personally aggrieved" due to the lack of proper investigation regarding the involvement of the Chief Minister's Office in the gold smuggling scandal. As a citizen, the petitioner has a right and duty to seek investigate in a crime, and the assertion of such a personal right need not be advanced in a Public Interest Litigation, submitted the counsel.

He submitted that the petition was seeking investigation by central agencies such as CBI/NIA into corruption allegations in Sprinklr deal, BevQ app deal, E-bus mobility deal and the latest gold smuggling case.

Justice V G Arun replied that such personal right has to be exercised by approaching the police first, and not directly coming to the High Court. The judge also noted that the petitioner was yet to file any complaint before any authorities.

Ultimately, the bench agreed with the Registry's objection.

"Despite the vociferous submissions on behalf of the petitioner, I am of the view that the matter should be considered as a PIL", the bench observed.

In a related development, Swapna Suresh, who is associated with the UAE Consulate at Thiruvananthapuram, moved the HC seeking pre-arrest bail in the case registered by Customs Department in relation to the smuggling of 30 kilograms of gold using diplomatic cargo.