SC on Coalgate & CBI

The Supreme Court ripped apart the myth of CBI’s autonomy by exposing it as being under the thumb of the government of the day. The apex court tore into the government for seeking to vet the CBI’s status report to the SC on the Coalgate scam and subvert it.
The apex court didn’t mince words while saying that the government’s attempt to change the investigation status report and the CBI’s attempt to mislead the court on whether it had shared the report with anyone was tantamount to “a vital erosion of trust”.
A three-member bench, comprising Justices R M Lodha, Madan Lokur and Kurian Joseph, questioned the legal authority of law minister Ashwani Kumar and PMO and coal ministry officials to summon the draft CBI investigation status report. It said that the action of the minister and the PMO and the coal ministry has “shaken” the very foundation of an independent probe — an admonition which challenged the minister’s argument that he was entitled to go through the contents of the status report.
The stinging observations which peppered the much awaited hearing in the politically-charged case also put the spotlight on the CBI’s autonomy with the SC vowing to free the investigating agency from any political and bureaucratic interference.
The bench said it would remain engaged with the case and would go into who all tampered the status report and for the benefit of whom. “If we find that the investigation has been influenced by someone who had no business to do so then the necessary inference is that the investigation is a farce. The case will then have to be investigated by either a Special Investigation Team (SIT) or some other method. Something will have to be done if it was done to shield someone. If that is found to be true, then it is very serious and the reaction will be very different,” it said.
The court also told CBI director Ranjit Sinha to file an affidavit by Monday disclosing who made what changes at whose instance in the draft report and name the persons in addition to the law minister and officials who perused the draft report prior to its filing in the Supreme Court on March 8.

A few hours after the Supreme Court made scathing observations on the CBI’s functioning, agency chief Ranjit Sinha said he was only part of the government and took instructions from it. Saying there was nothing to regret in consulting the political leadership on the Coalgate investigation status report, Sinha said, “I am a part of the government. I am not an outside party. I have not shown sensitive information to an outsider. I have shown it to the law minister,” he said.

Additional solicitor general Harin Raval quit hours after the Supreme Court tore into CBI for misleading it. Raval had triggered the latest controversy in the Coalgate episode by giving the apex court a false assurance on March 12 that CBI’s probe status report was not shared with the political executive. With the court taking exception to his misleading statement and his launching a sudden vitriolic attack on attorney general G E Vahanvati, Raval’s place among the law officers understandably became untenable — both on propriety and politically.

First thing we have to do is to liberate (CBI) from political interference, liberate it from external influence, interference and intrusion. This is the primary task now
The cloud of suspicion over CBI’s impartiality must be lifted. Place before us the CVs of all officers… we have to ensure that they are of impeccable integrity
In this case there are serious allegations against political functionaries…where is the occasion for the CBI to share the status report with others? Does this not result in erosion of the trust reposed in you by the court?
Show us any law which authorizes a minister to summon probe status report prior to its submission to the court in a case which is being scrutinized judicially
COURT’S QUERIES
1 Why didn’t CBI disclose to the SC that draft report was shared with political executive?
2 Why did ASG Raval say the report hadn’t been shared with anyone and that it was for the court’s eyes alone?
3 Now that CBI says the status report was shared with the law minister and PMO, what changes were made and at whose instance?
4 Who are the 2 officials in PMO and coal ministry who had sought the report?
5 What’s the procedure being followed by the CBI on sharing status reports with regard to ongoing investigations that are called for by the court?
FUTURE TENSE
Huge embarrassment for government. Ashwani Kumar may not step down right away, but cost of retaining him as law minister rises sharply. Even PM is likely to feel heat as report was shared with PMO
Court might walk the talk and set agenda for CBI’s autonomy. Judicial oversight of Coalgate very likely now
Big blow to attorney-general Vahanvati. ASG Raval has already bowed out
Gloves off. Cong-BJP communications have snapped. Passage of land acquisition and food security bills bleak. Govt might have to bring ordinances on them

The court also asked the CBI to stop moving on the “crutches of the executive”. The bench wanted to know why and on whose instructions additional solicitor general Harin Raval had lied to the court on March 12 that the probe status report was not shared with the political executive. It said if it had not nailed the lie by asking the CBI director to endorse the ASG’s statement, things would have been pushed under the carpet.
It questioned the CBI’s pliancy in rushing to the political executive and bureaucrats with draft status report and asked: “Show us from the CBI Manual or any law which authorizes a minister to summon probe status report prior to its submission to the court in a case which is pending judicial scrutiny.”
The bench said Raval’s lie has shifted the judicial focus on the coal scam and now its primary task was to make the CBI independent of political interference in letter and spirit and ensure it was free of all “external influence”.