Will take appropriate action on SC remarks: PM

The government was studying the Supreme Court observation slamming it for interfering in the CBI probe on allocation of coal blocks and would take "appropriate action", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here Tuesday.

"We are studying the Supreme Court observation and we will take appropriate action," the prime minister told reporters in Parliament House.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said: "I am not familiar with the comments. If the Supreme Court has made adverse remarks then obviously these remarks are not pleasant."

Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal refused to comment on the matter.

Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions V. Narayanasamy, under whose charge the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) comes, said: "As a minister, I never interfered in the internal affairs of the CBI and our government will never do that."

"The investigation process of CBI is entirely in the domain of the agency and our government never interfered," he asserted.

The Supreme Court Tuesday described as "very disturbing" the CBI affidavit on the sharing of its report with Law Minister Ashwani Kumar and officials in the Prime Minister's Office. It criticised the agency for having kept the court in the dark on the issue.

While underlining the need to liberate the CBI from extraneous influences, an apex court bench headed by Justice R.M. Lodha said the affidavit to be filed by the agency's director should be "absolutely complete and truthful".