Govt should apologise to SC: CPI on coal scam report issue

CPI today asked the government to "apologise" to the Supreme Court after its indictment over CBI's status report on the coal scam and demanded immediate removal of Law Minister Ashwani Kumar.
It also sought urgent steps to free CBI from being a "political tool in the hands of a corrupt ruling party".
In a statement, party General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy said the government "should apologise to the Supreme Court along with resignation or sacking of the Law Minister and take immediate steps to make CBI an independent autonomous body, without political or bureaucratic control."
In the recent period, "CBI has become a political tool in the hands of corrupt ruling party to manipulate political parties, to harass and cow-down the opponents, and now of late misusing political power to distort reports etc," it said.

Maintaining that Kumar had "behaved in total arrogance" by attempting to "make changes in the CBI report" on the coal scam, Reddy said he should resign after the indictment of CBI by the Supreme Court. "There is no other go."
"The comments of Supreme Court judges on CBI should be an eye-opener to the Union government. CBI's action of sharing the investigation report on coal scam to the Supreme Court with the Law Minister and other officials has certainly shaken the credibility of CBI and undermined its own status," the CPI leader said.
Asking the government to appoint the CBI director in the same manner as the gigilance commissioner, he said all this should be done urgently as otherwise the apex court "will have to take decision on the independent status of CBI".