may 06 cbi affidavit on coal scam

7/30/2019 May 06 Cbi Affidavit on Coal Scam

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. ' . .IN' THE SUPREME couRT OF !NOIAI , .WRIT PETITION (CIVIL} NO. 463 OF .2012. . . ..

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In the rnatter of:COMMON CAUSE & ORS: . . .... Petitioner (s)VERSUSUNION OF IND IA &OR'S .. . . ... Respondent (s). ..

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. .....:AFF IDAVIT OF DlRECTOR ! CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION IN. . .. .COMPLIANCE OF THE ORD ER DATED 30.04.2013 .. .

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I. Ranjit Sinha, . aged abou.t 60 years; occupation, Government. : ' . . . . ": . . .. . . .. ( . ' ' . .Service, presently appointed as Director, cs1 , resident of. 2 Janpath, New. . . . . .. . . . .

Delhi - 110001., do h e r . ~ b y . s o l e m n r Y . affirm and state as under:-2. I have read the Order dated .30th Apri l, 2013 of th is Hon'ble Court and. ,. \ . . . .

' ' . 'an1 filing this affidavit in .compliance o.f. the directions by this Hon'ble Courtwhich reads as under:. ..

... . :: .. .: .. . . ,_.,. . '..."Having p e r u s ~ the ~ f ( i d a y i t filed.'f:? r.-. t h ~ Director, c. on April 26,2013 pursuant .o tf:le o r d ~ r c J a t e d Mcirch 12. 201 3, we are of the view thatthe following aspects are "req uired to be cfaiffied:bY him:. . . ' . .. , .(i) As to why in t h ~ s t a t u s R e p o r t ~ dated 08.03.2013 no disclo'sure wasmade to this Court; tha't. th'e 'draft,.repo1t' has been shared with thepolitical executive arid:offlcials. : . '(ii) What was the. . a s and reasons for the .C. 8 .'t. in 1naking the state1nenton 12.03.2013 through its counsel (Additional Solicitor General) beforethis Court that the Sta tus Repolts :dated OB.,q3.201.3 has not bee n

shareq with any one an.d it is n1eant .only. for the Court.. .. .. .(iii) In the affidavit n o i ; / f i f ~ d /:)y, the Direct.of, C.B.f., on April 26, 20.13, it is' . . , . . . . ' '" J. . .


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stated that the draft of the Stats Reports dated March 8, 2013 wasshared with the Minister of Law and Justice as.desired by him prior toits submission before tflfs. Cou1.1 and it was also shared with Jo intSecretary 'fevel officerseach- of the Pri1ne Minister's Office and Ministryof Coa l as desire.d by 'them but nothing has been sa id in the affidavitwhether or no.t'change.s w ere r.nade in the draft rep0rt and, if yes, atwhose instanG? aad the extent of changes and whether besides th ethree persons merrtioned in pEJra 4.of:the affidavit, the draft report wasshared with ahy other perso_n in th(jt meeting.

(iv) The narnes .of the' .wo officers O(leeacll ~ f the Prime Minister's Officeand fv1inistry of G_oal referred to in para 4 of the affidavit.

, . '(v) The procedure . being folfowed by the .C.8.1. under theManual/Guidelines in sharing the Status Reports(s) with regard to on

going n v , ~ s t i g a t ~ o n in a sub ju dic.e 1natter .where Status R ~ p o r t shave been called for by the Court.'(vi) The n a 1 n e ~ o ( ~ h e C?fficers investigating the matter and their CVs in asealed cqver . . .

Mr . U. U. La/it; lea'rned sen ior counsei for .the C. 8 .1., states that abo"veinformation shall b ~ gv.en in the aff{davit by the Director,. C.8.1. We acceptthe state1nent. The. affi9avit .on the above aspects may be f i l ~ d -by theDirector, C.B. I., by ~ a y 6., 2013 ."3. At t.he outset, . before answering to the dacifications sought by this. .Hon'ble Court I submit the sequence of events relahrig to sharing bf draft.. .Status Reports 1Ni th persons. u t s d ~ the CB I:

... .4. The issue of stp.tus report was first ~ i $ c u s s e d in meeting of Hon'ble. ..Union Minister bf :Law and Justice in t1'e firs't week of February, 2013. It

' . . 'may be mentioned that on 241h January, 2013 . accepting the statement ofMr. Harin P. Rava), .Ld. Additional Solicitor General (ASG ), this Hon'ble

. Court had directed that. on the nex( :date, the status of investigation bemade known to the Court t h r o ~ g h . an affidavit by a competent ?fficer. In th isreg ard, dur.ing first' week of February., 2013, a meeting was held in the. .Chamber of H o n ' b l ~ Union Minrste'r for Law& JustiGe. It is clari.fied that this. 'meeting wa.s not called at the request of CBI. In this meeting , the CBI

. .articulated its view that fi ling ar:i affiqavit cQntaini'ng status bf investigation. .could prejudice :the integrity of ongoing investigations and enquiries. The


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.Hon'ble Minister and Ld . Attorney -General for India (AG) also shared thesame viewpoint. Ld. AG suggested that an .application should be made to !the Court for moditicatior of the order and to place the Report in sealedcover. However, since the order of thi s Hon'ble court was based on astatement made py Ld -: ASG , it wa s dec.died 'that he would make a mention. . .for this purpose before ~ Hon 'ble u ~ . It may be mentioned that the. . .Status Reports wer.e hot p r ~ p a r e d at that time.:. .5. The Central . Bureau of lnvest.gation had r e ~ i s t e r e d Q3 PreliminaryEnquiries anq: 09 Regular Cases (emanating out of the first PE) in the. . ;. . .1natter of allocation of c a p ~ i v e coal h.ocks ti ll 6 111 March, 2013. The draftStatus .Reports pe.rtaining to each .of h ~ s e PEs /.RCs were submitted to the. . .Director, CBI and .approved by me on the individual fifes betwee.n 281hFebruary, 2013. and 4 ih. March , 20 13. At this ~ t a g e it 'was considered

. . .appropriate to show the draft R ~ p o r t s to our Counsel Sh. Harin P Rava l,. ... . .Ld. ASG . Hence. ~ h e CBI office rs dealing with 'the matter showed all the. , . .",

drafts to Ld . .ASG .. and his assisiing .advocate, Sh. Satyakam, and in. . . .consultation with them ~ o r k e d on the d.rafts: o refin.e the same by putting it. . . ' ....in proper legal . format ar'ld. language, and bringing in more clarity and

uniformity.

. . .. ' . . . . . \6. Thereafter; on March 5, 2013' we .were informed by our Counsel , Ld.".. .ASG that Hon'ble l,Jnion Minister for Law & Justice .V'ished to peruse the. . .

draft Status Reports at 12.30 P.M .Accordingly draft re.por:ts were taken tothe office o.f Hon'ble Minister for Law & Justice. A copy of the draftpertain ing to PE 21s.2012 E .0002 (allocations made d.uring 2006 to 2009). ' . .. .herein after referred: to as PE 2, was perused by hi1n and he also madecertain changes in the s ~ n 1 e as explained in the subsequent paragraphs .

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The Ld. ASG was. present in the m e ~ t g whil.e the Ld. AG joined late r.Neither of them h.ad .copies of: draft. Statl,Js Reports and no amendments. . .. .were suggested"by t h ~ m The decision t ~ k e n iri the meeting referred to in. ;paragraph 4 b o ~ e vvas reiterated that the Status ReP,Ort? would be placedin a sealed co ver an.d a.mention made for .this purpose by Ld. ASG before. . 'this Hon'ble Court. S n c ~ the Ld. AG .had to leave the Hon'ble Minister

+ ,. . . '' ' ' Isuggested t h ~ t the $tatus Reports may be shown to Ld. AG later.

. '7. On the same day in the. atternoon, on receiving a message from ourCounsel, Ld. ASG,.Shri 0 P Galh9tra, JointDirector anp Shri Ravikant. DIGwent to the residential office of Ld. AG. I was not present in the saidmeet ing. I was informed that Ld . ASG was also present there . Ld. AG

. ' ' .glanced through portions of the Status Reports of PE 2 and PE 219 2012 E0004 (allocations ma.de di:Jrlng 1993 tq 2005 ) herein after referred to as PE. ' . . . . . : . .

' . ... . ' .4. He made certain observations which W ~ r e explained to him. He also..suggested certain mi'!'or changes in the ~ t a t u ~ Report of PE 2. Ld. AG

neither s ~ e d for .nor was given a copy of the final Status Reports that weresu bmitted before this Hon'ble Court.

8. Later in the evening the same day, a meeting .was held with ShriShatrugnna Singh . J:o.i nt Secretary .in. P.MO and Shri A.K :: Bhalla, JointSecretary .in Ministry of Coal. in .the cha111.ber of Shri 0 P Galhotra, JointDirector CBIat the request of 'Sllri Shatrugtir.ia Singh.. I submit before th.is. . . .Hon'ble C ~ u r t that regular interaGtion cbntinues_between .my officers andsaid officials in Ministry of Coal and PMO 'vvi th regard to ongoing enquiry.. .These officia ls_coord inate with my officers. n production of the requisitefiles documents information and clarifications to CB I. Both these officialsI , .went through the draft $tatus R,epo.rts pertaining to PE 2 and PE 4. Next


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day i.e. on. ?1n March. 2013. they s u g g e ~ t e d amendrnents in a paragraph. ' . . ..(later numbered.as 1._21) of PE 2and a .paragr.aph (later numbered as 2.8)of P ~ 4.

9. It is h ~ m b l y s ~ b m t t e d that Shri o P G ~ l h o t r a . Joint Director had kept 'me informed of al l these development.s, and that the averments inpa ragraph 7 and 8 above are . b


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or accused were re.moved from .the Status Reports. and also that nosuspect or acc;used were ~ t off in the p r o c e s

13. I wi ll now p r o c ~ e d to su9mit the requ isite clarifications on the points. .directed by .this Ho.n.'ble: Court in Orqer.dated 301hApril, 2013, point wise.. . '14. With respect to PQint No". (i). it ~ hurnbly. submitted that as statedearlier, the centra.1 theme of trie Stqtus Reports had. not changed postmeetings. There was no deletion of any evrdence against any suspect or. . ' .accused, nor were .any let off. Since it was our honest and bona fide belief. . ' . .' ..that there was no ~ p e c c direction on the s s ~ e by t h i ~ Hon'ble Court, It didnot occur to us that the fact ought to be b r ~ 1 : ; 1 g h t to the notice of th is Hon'ple. .Court. It is humb.ty submitted that there was no intention whatsoever tosuppress this fact from this Hon'bJe.Court.

15. Wi th respect-to Point No. (ii). it is sub111itted that the statement of Ld.Additional Solicitor General be.fore this Hon'ble Court that "the Status. . 'Reports dated 08.03. 2013 has n'ot been .shared with any one and it is

. .1neant only for the Cou,rf' was not m ~ c l e on ~ instructions of the CBI. Ld .' ' .ASG had 1nade the said stater11er:1t before .this Hon'ble Court during the. . '. . . .hearing on .12 th March . .2013 on ~ o w ~ . It ~ to submit before this Hon'ble. .. .

' . 'Court that Ld . AS:Gh.mself was pres.ent in: the meeting held in the chamber

of Hon'ble Union Minister for Law ano Justice. on 61h M'arch, 2013. On theother hand, the senior most officer of the CBI present in the Court had not. . . .: . :attended the said meeting. Since the q.uery posed by this Hon'ble Courtwas spontaneous, the question -,of .CBI n s t r u c Ld. Additional SolicitorGeneral, in the aboye said circumstances did not arise.

16. With respect to Point No. (iii),.1t is submitted that certain changes in

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the drafts of the Status Reports of PE 2 . n ~ PE. 4 were incorporated as1nentioned at par?graphs 6, 7 and . 8 :a.bov.e. It was initially intended that allthe .chan.ges. orought abopt in- tbis process shall be submitted before this

. . .Hon'b!e Court in .a.sealed cover alon.gwith .the said Affidavi t. Th is however. .could not m a t e r ; i ~ ! i z e due to procedural r e q u i r ~ m e n t s of the Reg istry. Wewere then adviseq by .our Special c ounsel that these. details cou ld be. ' ' . .

Hon'ble Court kindly a l l ~ 1 . . v e d submission of sealed cover containing allrelevant documents and to.ok the same on recor.d on 301h April , 2013.

17. It is submitted that changes as .mentioned above have been only in. .Status Reports of: PE 2 and PE 4, since only these were shared. The

original draft Statu.s Rt;!ports of the said two: PEs ini tially approved by meand their final versions 'with changes.highlighted by way of footnotes have

' I '' . .been filed in sealed cover; befort: this. HoCl'bl-e Col:lrt on 301h April 2013. I. . . .

pray to this Hon'ble Court to grant us leave for.not filing these cjocumentsalong with this Affidavit, to p r e s e n i ~ confidentiality in the enquiries.

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18. Based 90 the available docu111ents. 1ny officers. have been able toidentify the changes in draft Status Rep9rts of PE 2and PE 4. Majority of. . :these changes ~ r e done by,rny offk:e.rs ~ order to refine the reports either. : ., . . .. ' .on their own or in consultation with the Ld -ASG"and his assisting advocate,. 'or by .the Hon'ble Union Minister of Law a.rid Justice. Besides, a few

..changes were also done on the svggestio.il of Ld. AG and officials of PMO. .and Ministry of Co.al. It is difficult at th is stage to attrib.ute each change to apart icula r person with cena inty. The changes which. can be termedsignificant are ela_orated in lhe follovvirlg paragraph.

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19. It is submittep that significant chal")ges would be s'een in paragraph1.21 and 1.23 of the fina l Status Report pertaining PE 2 and paragraph 2.8of PE 4. From para!Jraph 1. 21 of PE 2, the .tentative finding about non-existence of a system regarding allocation of specific .weightage/points was' ' .' .deleted at th.i;i instance of the officials .df PMO and Ministry of Coal. The.other tentative f i n d ~ n g about non-preparation of bro'ad' sheets or charts bythe screening con:imittee. to the oest of our r e c o l l ~ c t i o n Vl(.as deleted by the

' .Hon'ble Union Minister for Law and Ju5fice. Since both these changes

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perta ined to the tentative findings of CBI 'Nhich would be arrived at withfurther clarity on more er:iquiries: the sar.ne were acceptable. Further, from

. 'paragraph 1.23 of the sa111e report. deletion of a sentence about scope of' .

enquiry with respect to legality of allocation while the amendm_ents in lawwere in process, vJas .done by the Hori"ble .Union Minister for Law and. .Justice:. Tile ~ h a n g e '..made n para.graph 2.8 of the final :Status Reportpertaining io PE ~ about . non-existence of .ppproved guidelines forallocation of coal bloc[


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f\/1arch , 1996. in. respect of Jain Hawala case. A copy of the same 1sannexed.

. .22. With respect to Point.No (vi), t h ~ 'F1ames of the officers investigating. . .the matter a ~ d the supervisory Q f f i c e r ~ of the Branches concerned arebeing submitted in sealed cover, along with h ~ i r CVs.

23. I humbly submit that since the above mentioned meetings were notminutized , the facts stated in the Affidavit are based on best recollection of.. .. .my memory and 9.f my officers.

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24. l extend' my unc.onditional apology to this t ion 'ble Court for anyn a d v e r t ~ n omission ?r c.omn1iss io11 on my part a.nd assure this Hon'ble

Cou1i that the . enquiries and investigations are being .conductedindependently b a team of officers with utmost sincerity andprofessionalism and.vyo,uld continue w!th he same zea l and purpose.. . . '.. ' ' . . . .

Solemnly. affir.med this .. ......... . .... .... day of Ma'y 2b13 at New Delhi.. . .

f J ~ IDEPONENT

V ER I F ICAT 10 NI, theabove .named deponent do: hereby s o l ~ m n l y verify and state. . .. .that what is stated herein above in this affidavit 1s true to my own: . .. .knowledge and I belie.ve the same to b e , ~ r u e .' ...So lemnly verified this on th.e .. ... . .. .. .. .. .. ... .. ....day of May, 2013 at

New De lhi. ~DEPONENT


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--...." .

ITEM No. CO.URT NO.3

S U P R E 1\1 E C.0 U R T 0 F. : AECOAO OF PROCEED INGSWr it Pet ition ~ C No . Is ) 3 4 .(:':-4 3/ 9 3

Versus

IND I A

Petitioner (s)

'OOI l.c ').J:Jr, Respondent ( i;)(Wit.h ~ p p l n . ! o:r c/d " 1 n te r ve n t ior. a id !n t . e r im r e l i e f an dtemporary r e l e as e of . doc-..i:r.e!'lt.s and . r .'!- N o 3 . ,). ;O a t ~ :

CORAM! 3 . l 9 e Petition (11) was/werrs c:e.l!c>d on fo r hearing today.

Hon 'ble Mr. Justice J . s .VermaHon' ble M 1. Justice s. ~ S h a r u c h & .Hon"ble Mr.. u stice S. c;;. St::i

Fer \ha P.ilti i ions: (s) : Kr. Ar. i l B D i \i;,."1, S r . Adv .H . . s . ~ d l : a i:r.is?-.na.ra. ! r thy , Ar!v .

K : ' . ~ . ~ s a r . u . ~ e - ~ \For th e ra'5pondent(s ) : l{r .CP. q ,up.t a , s'.o. 'Mr. l i t .N : i . r a . a,;..,. s r . "' I.>


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IV in t:-.e

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may 06 cbi affidavit on coal scam

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