Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday declined to stay the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) probe into Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC), Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter's firm and Kochi-based mines company CMRL.
The order came on the plea moved by KSIDC seeking to quash the central government order directing an investigation by SFIO under the Companies Act into the affairs of KSIDC.
Justice Devan Ramachandran refused to put on hold the probe by SFIO into the three companies on a plea moved by the state-run KSIDC, senior central government counsel (SCGC) R V Sreejith said.
The SCGC, who appeared for the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and SFIO, said the court also declined to interfere with the notices directing KSIDC to produce documents sought by the probe agency.
The court, however, gave them liberty to seek time to file the book of accounts, maintained in Tally or any other software, for the period from 2012-13 to till date, SCGC Sreejith said.
The KSIDC has claimed in its plea that the central government order was illegal as it was passed without hearing it.
Besides KSIDC, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs also ordered an SFIO probe against Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) and the CM's daughter's firm Exalogic Solutions Pvt Ltd.
The KSIDC also termed as illegal the notice issued by the Registrar of Companies (RoC) regarding an inspection at its office on February 8 and 9 and the SFIO notice seeking documents from the state-run entity.
The High Court listed the matter for further hearing on February 12.
Published 07 February 2024, 12:44 IST