Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 21 - The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Friday asked Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Kerala unit secretary Pinarayi Vijayan to appear before the CBI court at Kochi Sep 24 in the Rs.374-crore SNC Lavalin scam, in which he is the seventh accused.

A senior official at the CBI's Thiruvananthapuram unit, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told IANS that the summons had been served to Vijayan.

Vijayan is accused of wrongfully awarding a contract to the Canadian company SNC Lavalin for renovating three power plants when he was the state power minister in 1997.

The charges against Vijayan were filed in the special court after Kerala Governor R.S. Gavai in June gave the go-ahead to the CBI to prosecute the Marxist leader.

Meanwhile, Vijayan has approached the Supreme Court challenging the governor's sanction to the CBI for his prosecution. This petition is likely to come up for hearing Aug 31.

'In case Vijayan gets a positive response from the apex court to his petition, he still will have to appear before the CBI court with the order on Sep 24. If that happens, then all current proceedings will be stopped,' the CBI official said.