Missing files: SC tells govt to let CBI file FIR

Apex court also asks govt to let CBI file FIR in case it fails to submit files

The Supreme Court on Thursday gave the government a choice regarding the missing files related to the coal block allocation scam — either provide these to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or let the investigative agency file a First Information Report (FIR) of the loss, theft or destruction of the documents. The apex court directed CBI to provide a comprehensive list of the documents to the office of the Attorney-General. The law officer will provide the details and explain the position to the CBI.

The court made a timeframe of one month to complete the course.

The court went through the status report on the CBI investigation into the allocations and remarked that the probe was still in “first gear” and should pick up speed and reach a “logical conclusion”. Three top CBI officers were present before a Bench presided over by R M Lodha to explain the status of the investigation.

According to the CBI report, of 169 companies that got 85 blocks, only 37 had been covered by the inquiry. Therefore, 132 have “not even been touched”, the judges remarked and asked them, “when are you going to complete the probe?”

CBI has stated in its report that it was handicapped by the non-availability of key documents and files, despite repeated requests to the coal ministry. The reply was that the requisitioned files were either ‘not available’, ‘traceable’ or ‘missing’.

The report of the experts of the Coal India Ltd on this issue was also missing.

The judges read out the report and stated that in many cases involving top companies, the files were not traceable. In that case, a complaint should have been filed and investigations should have started. “Otherwise how do we move ahead?” the judges remarked.

Attorney General G E Vahanvati submitted that he was not made available of the status report which the judges were reading and, therefore, he could not get instructions from the government. Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran said that he has prepared a point-by-point reply to all the queries by the CBI. However, the queries and replies were not read out.

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan appearing for Common Cause, an NGO, said that a case should be filed for destruction of evidence and contempt of court. Even if the copies are found, it would now be difficult to reconstruct the deals, which was full of corruption. If the ministry did not file an FIR, the court should order its filing.

Another petitioner, lawyer Manohar Lal Sharma, stated that the documents started disappearing from the ministry soon after his petition was filed in the Supreme Court.

The next hearing will be on September 5.

In a related development, the inter-ministerial group on coal blocks has recommended issuing show cause notices to allocatees of mines, including the one jointly given to ArcelorMittal, Sterlite Energy, Lanco and Reliance Energy, which are named in an FIR registered by CBI, reports PTI.