The Supreme Court Friday restrained the CBI from filing any charge sheet or closure report in coal scam cases till it decides whether the investigating agency's director Ranjit Sinha would be dealing with the probe and prosecution for these cases.
A bench of Chief Justice R.M. Lodha, Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Kurian Joseph initially directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to not file any closure report till it decides on an application by NGO Common Cause.
However, the bench subsequently restrained the CBI from filing the charge sheet in any case as it ordered status quo on a suggestion by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi.
The court order came as it asked Rohatgi to place before it the "appraisal report" prepared by the Director General of Income Tax (Investigations) on alleged hawala dealer Moin Qureshi in the wake of raids by the tax authorities.
Earlier Bhushan's mention of the about 90 meetings that Quershi had with CBI director Sinha at his official residence was objected to by the CBI counsel A. Sharan who said that there was no connection between Qureshi and the coal scam.
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Bhushan's attempts to address the court on the linkages between the meetings that Qureshi had with Sinha and the coal scam cases was resisted by senior counsel Vikas Singh appearing for Sinha, inviting the court's displeasure.
To buttress his plea, Bhushan told the court that according to his "trustworthy and reliable" information the appraisal report prepared by the Director General of Income Tax (Investigations) on Qureshi also covers in some detail the dealings of Qureshi with Sinha.
Upon this the court inquired from Rohatgi whether the report was already in place but he said that it would take a month's time and offered to place before the court on the next date of the hearing Oct 17.
Senior counsel Vikas Singh, who demonstrated an unusual assertive manner in defending Sinha, ended up on being on the receiving end with the court describing his conduct unfortunate and exceeding the limits of the court's decorum.
Describing his conduct as "unfortunate", Chief Justice Lodha said: "If it is happening in the first court of the country, then what may be happening in other courts. It is unfortunate. It is a sad day for this court."
"You have exceeded all the limit. You have thrice crossed the limits. Don't teach the court. You can't hijack the proceedings," he told Vikas Singh as the latter kept on repeating his objections on the count of law, Supreme Court rules and its earlier judgments.
Singh said that Bhushan could not make scandalous allegations and told the court that he was addressing the media and not the court.
At this court said: "If you are accusing him of arguing to the galleries, then you are also doing the same."
Petitioner NGO Common Cause has urged the court to direct CBI director to stay away from the investigation and prosecution in coal scam cases.
