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In ongoing probe into the coal scam case, the Supreme Court today is slated to take up the status report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the investigation. The apex court will also be considering the affidavit filed by the Centre regarding autonomy for the CBI – this was after the court hauled the agency and lamented it was a “caged parrot” in the hands of the government.
Last week, in the court monitored investigation into the coal scam, the CBI had submitted its progress report in a sealed cover. In its report, the CBI has reportedly stated that there might be special circumstances when the agency would need to share details with the government as when it seeks the government's sanction for prosecution. The court had directed that the CBI should not share any details of their investigation with the government. The Supreme Court had, during the last hearing, said that only the investigating officers and the CBI Director should know the details of the probe.
The Supreme court had taken strong exception to the fact that the then Law Minister Ashwani Kumar as well as officials from the Prime Minister's Office and the Coal Ministry had vetted the CBI's status report on its investigations into the Coal-gate scam.
Describing the CBI's functioning as one of a "caged parrot that speaks in different voices of different masters", the apex court had asked the Centre to come up with a legislation to grant functional autonomy to the premier investigation agency. The Government thereafter constituted a GoM to give greater autonomy to the CBI.
