The Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) chief Ranjit Sinha is in a fix to legally justify his action of sharing the status report in the Coal block allotment scam probe with the law minister and senior officials of the government. He is to file an affidavit before the apex court on Monday citing rules which allowed him to share the coal gate draft probe status report with law minister. A team of CBI sleuths is working day and night along with the director himself to come out of the web they are currently stuck in.
Sources in the CBI said that ‘until now’ no section which could justify agency’s action has been found in the manuals and rule-books the CBI is scrutinizing. ‘Officially I don’t think there is any rule by which you can share the report prior to its submission before the apex court with anyone. There are provisions that you can consult the top lawyers about technicalities but you can’t share the report with the law minister and bureaucrats. You can’t also receive any word on the investigation part,’ the sources stated, adding that, ‘Moreover, in this case the director CBI himself went to meet personally the law minister and two senior bureaucrats who would have been junior to him which is unprecedented, at least, in the public domain.’
The sources also said there were some changes which were asked to be made by the people who sought the draft report, however, the sources refused to comment on the nature of these changes. CBI director has been maintaining that the agency will give all answers in the affidavit they are to file by 6 May before the Supreme Court. After the last hearing, the CBI director had added fuel to fire by saying that CBI was ‘not an autonomous body’ and that it was part of the government. Even though the agency soon issued a clarification that the director meant ‘CBI doesn’t exist in isolation’, his statement had created a furore.
Sources in the CBI said that ‘until now’ no section which could justify agency’s action has been found in the manuals and rule-books the CBI is scrutinizing. ‘Officially I don’t think there is any rule by which you can share the report prior to its submission before the apex court with anyone. There are provisions that you can consult the top lawyers about technicalities but you can’t share the report with the law minister and bureaucrats. You can’t also receive any word on the investigation part,’ the sources stated, adding that, ‘Moreover, in this case the director CBI himself went to meet personally the law minister and two senior bureaucrats who would have been junior to him which is unprecedented, at least, in the public domain.’
The sources also said there were some changes which were asked to be made by the people who sought the draft report, however, the sources refused to comment on the nature of these changes. CBI director has been maintaining that the agency will give all answers in the affidavit they are to file by 6 May before the Supreme Court. After the last hearing, the CBI director had added fuel to fire by saying that CBI was ‘not an autonomous body’ and that it was part of the government. Even though the agency soon issued a clarification that the director meant ‘CBI doesn’t exist in isolation’, his statement had created a furore.