SC reprimands CBI

Sharing of coalgate scam report with Govt

• Court asks CBI to file a "candid and truthful" affidavit by May 6
• Judge: First exercise will be to liberate CBI from political interference
• Court finds massive breach of trust that has shaken our foundation
• Court wants to know what are the changes made and by whom?
• CBI chief admits the agency is not an autonomous body
• Sushma Swaraj: Matter of shame for any Govt

New Delhi: In a major embarrassment to the UPA government, the Supreme Court on Tuesday reprimanded the CBI for sharing the status report with the government. Terming it as "erosion of faith" for allowing the Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar and Joint Secretary level officers in the PMO and the Coal Ministry to access the report on the Coalgate scam, the Apex Court directed the CBI to file a "candid and truthful" affidavit by May 6 on why the draft report was shared with the government. The court said, "Our first exercise will be to liberate the CBI from political interference."

The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice R M Lodha said that the sharing of the information with the government had "shaken the entire process" and there was no need for the CBI to take instructions from "political masters" on their probe. Lashing out at the CBI, the Supreme Court wanted to know as to why it was kept in the dark about the government sharing the status report. It termed it as a "massive breach of trust which has shaken our foundation." The Court has directed the CBI to file a fresh affidavit spelling out the reasons as to why its status report dated March 8, 2013, was shared with political bosses and officials.

Why did the CBI, through its counsel Additional Solicitor General Harin Ravel, make an assertive statement in the court that the status report was not shared with anyone. It wanted to know from the CBI the procedure that was followed as per its manual/guidelines on sharing status reports of ongoing investigations besides providing the service profiles of senior officials of Deputy Inspector- General and Superintendants of Police who were investigating the coal scam. An affidavit filed by CBI director Ranjit Sinha on April 26 had candidly stated that the draft report of March 8 was shared with the Law Minister and officials prior to its submission and "as desired by them." The Apex Court wanted to know the details on the changes made in the affidavit, the extent of those changes, and on whose instance these changes were made.

After the Supreme Court observations Ranjit Sinha said that he was not embarrassed. The investigative agency would reply to all the queries made by the Court. In a shocking revelation, he admitted that "CBI is not an autonomous body." Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj termed the Supreme Court observations as a "matter of shame" for any government, while the Prime Minister stated that whatever action that was called for would be taken after studying the Supreme Court observations.