New Delhi: The BJP upped the ante against Law Minister Ashwani Kumar on Wednesday after the Supreme Court said that the heart of CBI's coal report was changed by the government officials. The apex court, while examining the affidavit submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with coal scam, on Wednesday took a very strong stand and called the investigating agency a "caged parrot speaking in its master's voice".
While seeking an undertaking from the government that the CBI would be made independent, the three-judge bench headed by Justice RM Lodha, also added that giving unbridled powers to the agency was not a possibility. The court said it will step in if the CBI was not made an autonomous body.
The BJP called the Supreme Court observation a major embarrassment for the UPA government and said that it is an indictment of the Prime Minister's Office and Coal Ministry. BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, "Ashwani Kumar should be sacked immediately and the Prime Minister should resign."
"ASG blamed the Attorney General. Now Attorney General blames the Law Minister. The fact is all three of them have misconducted themselves. ASG has resigned. Attorney General and Law Minister should also resign forthwith," added Rudy.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj tweeted, "The Law Minister and the Attorney General should resign immediately."
The Supreme Court came down heavily on the government saying that even after 15 years of the Vineet Narayan judgement, the "situation in the country has become much worse as far as CBI autonomy is concerned". "What is the CBI? Is it a collaborator or an investigator," the SC asked.
The apex court also slammed Attorney General GE Vahanvati, former Additional Solicitor General Harin Raval and officials of the PMO and Coal Ministry during the hearing. "How on earth could the Joint Secretaries of the PMO and the Coal Ministry attend the meeting, see the report and suggest changes to it," the SC asked. "It pains us to see the credibility of the CBI getting affected. The CBI is doing a collaborative probe. The job of the CBI is to interrogate and not interact with government," the court added and also said that the "heart of the CBI report was changed on the suggestions of government officials".
Vahanvati, Law Minister Ashwani Kumar and the two officials of the PMO and the Coal Ministry had been accused by the CBI in its affidavit of suggesting changes to its report on coalgate.
Vahanvati, however, sought to deflect charges against him, saying that he never sought a copy of the report and that he acted as per the instructions of the Law Minister. "My meeting with CBI officials took place only on suggestions of the Law Minister," he said.
Former CBI Director Joginder Singh lauded the apex court's observations and said that the SC was correct. "CBI needs permission at every level. CBI movements are restricted, they can use CBI as they want," he said.
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