New Delhi: The hearing in the SNC Lavalin case was deferred in the Supreme Court owing to the inconvenience of the CBI lawyer. This is the 18th time that the case has been deferred.

A Supreme Court bench headed by U U Lalit said the case would be taken up on January 7 as the last one in the list. The cases which are taken up for final arguments are posted for hearing at the last.

Solicitor General (SG) Thushar Mehta who appeared for the CBI made the plea for deferring the case. The SG said though prepared for the arguments, he was busy with two other cases. At this stage, Justice Lalit asked the SG that considering the number of cases when he is going to find time.

When the court decided to post the case for January 27, the SG intervened and got the hearing advanced.

The SG said the documents related to the case would be codified and submitted before the court.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is the seventh accused in the case. The first accused is former Energy Secretary K Mohanachandran.

The case relates to the alleged corruption in a contract awarded by the state government to Canadian company SNC Lavalin in 1995 for renovation and modernisation of three hydroelectric projects in Idukki.

A CBI special court had cleared Pinarayi Vijayan and other accused. The agency appealed against the order in the Kerala High Court, which acquitted them in August 2017. The CBI then went in appeal in the Supreme Court.