SC bars CBI from sharing Coalgate probe info with government

The Supreme Court has barred the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from sharing information on the coal mine allocation scam probe with the government or any of its agencies.

The apex court made it clear that sharing any information with the government on its investigation into alleged irregularities in the issue of coal mining licences would lead to "extraneous influence" on the investigations.

The court also warned the investigating agency that such sharing of information would harm the agency's credibility itself.

The apex court also told the CBI that it was free to approach the court if the probe faced any hurdles at any time.

The ruling comes on the CBI's application filed on 9 July seeking modifications to the court's earlier order barring it from sharing the Coalgate probe report with any government office or agency.

In its application, CBI had cited various reasons, including statutory ones, for sharing information with the ''appropriate government/authority''.

The agency had said it was necessary for it to share information with the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and various government bodies and its prosecutors, for getting sanction, necessary government notifications and for strengthening the case with the help of experts.

"Your application to share some information with the government is like 'giving by one hand and taking by another' - don't take shelter under the law," the judges said. "If there is any obstruction or impediment of any nature, you can come to us. Nothing should be left to find the truth," they added.

Earlier, in May, while submitting its probe report, the CBI had admitted sharing information with the government, for which the court had reprimanded the investigating agency and called it "a caged parrot".
 
The revelations of the CBI had forced the then law minister Ashwani Kumar to resign.

The information on the coalmine allocation is sensitive for the government as the prime minister was holding the mines portfolio when the alleged irregularities in coalmine allocation took place.

The CBI probe had found that private players benefited hugely after coal mines were assigned to them without transparency and without proper checks.

The Supreme Court, however, considered the CBI's request for lifting restrictions on changing the 33-member investigation team. The agency had sought the court's permission to expand the probe team, claiming that the scope of investigation was widening.

The SC, however, turned down CBI's plea to shift DIG Ravi Kant, who is probing coal block allocations between 2006 and 2009, but allowed it to remove tainted SP Vivek Dutt from the probe team.