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CBI Spills Beans: GOVT WALKING ON HOT COAL By Poonam I Kaushish, 27 April, 2013 Print E-mail

Political Diary

New Delhi, 27 April 2013

CBI Spills Beans

GOVT WALKING ON HOT COAL

By Poonam I Kaushish

 Political Delhi continues to suffer from the Rs 1.86 lakh crores Coalgate gripes. Whereby, a fresh blast of coal dust has hit the UPA. Thanks to CBI Director Ranjit Sinha's bombshell to the Supreme Court in his affidavit that the agency's status report was “shared” with Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, two joint secretaries in the PM's Office and Coal Ministry “as desired by them” before it was given to the judges. Leaving the Government walking on hot coal suspended over a deep pit!

 Importantly, the CBI Chief’s submission not only countered the earlier assurance given by CBI counsel Additional Solicitor General Raval but has gifted more ammunition  to the Opposition to thwart the latter half of Parliament’s  Budget session. While the BJP is demanding Manmohan Singh and Kumar’s scalp, Manmohan Singh and an adamant and aggressive Sonia Gandhi will hear nothing of it.

 Either which way, the damage to Manmohan Singh’s pristine clean image has been done. True, none doubt his personal honesty, but undeniably Sinha’s confession has squarely reached the Prime Minister’s and his Office’s door given Kumar’s closeness to his family. Whereby, the UPA is caught between a rock and hard place as the buck stops with Manmohan Singh and through him Sonia’s door.

 Specially, against the backdrop that not only was he heading the Coal Ministry for some time when the scam happened but also because most of the 142 coal fields allocated between 2004 and 2009 were given at undervalued rates instead of using auction route to favoured private parties who instead of extracting coal sat tight (only 28 of 86 captive coal blocks produced coal) thereby causing the national exchequer a loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crores!

 Sonia’s fear stems from the likelihood that if the Prime Minister is implicated it would impliedly nail her as he was “her man”. Reportedly, the modus operandi was simple: Favoured private firms first negotiated a price with the High Command, paid up and then mines allotted to them.

Scandalously, the list reads like a virtual who’s who of the rich and powerful. Ex- Union Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay's brother was allocated two coal blocks, following his letter to the Prime Minister ‘recommending’ his family’s company, two Congress MPs-industrialist Navin Jindal and Vijay Darda both grabbed coal blocks. A five-day-old company headed by former DMK’s Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting S Jagathrakshakan was awarded a coal block in 2007. Similarly, IST Steel and Power, a spanking-new outfit owned by former RJD’s Union Corporate Affairs Minister Prem Chand Gupta's sons received a coal block in Maharashtra.

Pertinently, since the last two years, the Supreme Court is supervising Coalgate and had made clear that the CBI only report to it. Questionably, why were officials of PMO and the Coal Ministry present? Was Kumar merely correcting the CBI’s English?

 The UPA’s fear stems from three reasons. One, it is scared of an email trail between the PMO, Coal and Law Ministries. Two, a whistle-blower might further expose the Government’s misdemeanour. Whereby, a copy of the draft report with corrections made by Kumar in his hand-writing could be circulating. Three, the Law Minister infamous for his obduracy could have rubbed Sinha the wrong way by questioning his legal prowess leading to heated exchanges.

 Besides, the Government's defence that it only saw the “draft” and not the “final” report" is feeble. Only when a draft is seen and changes made that a final report is prepared. Why show the CBI show the Government the final report when it is prepared according to changes suggested by the powers-that-be?

 At another level, irrespective of the Apex Court’s verdict today, the moot point is: Will Sinha’s disclosure be the game changer in the way the CBI is perceived? A la TN Seshan who showed the power of the Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commission in the 1990’s. Will it help redeem the CBI’s image of being a handmaiden of the Government to dance to its tune?

 True one swallow does not make a summer. Given that the investigative agency has adopted a brazenly opportunistic policy of playing safe with Governments of the day and its willingness to go along with its political mai-baaps "shoot and scoot" corruption charges designed to mar reputations only which are rarely brought to closure.

 See how the Bofors scam, a pittance in today’s mind-boggling crores scam, was scuttled. At the end no body was any wiser where the Rs 64 crores went. Never Mind it cost the late Rajiv Gandhi his Prime Ministership. In 1996 the CBI registered a case against Lalu Yadav and filed a chargesheet in March 2003, in the Rs 6000 crores chara ghotala but put it in cold storage after UPA-I took office in May 2004. It was only last March the CBI court finally framed charges against Lalu after the Supreme Court stepped in. 

 Ditto the blow-hot-blow-cold treatment meted out to Samajwadi’s Mulayam and BSP’s Bhenji Mayawati in their respective disproportionate asset cases. With the CBI’s investigative pendulum swinging between Yes and No depending on whether the Government of the day needs their “services” and how badly. Contrast this long hiatus with the alacrity with which the CBI acts against ordinary citizens. 

 All in all, the damage to the Government is enormous. Kudos to Sinha for being honest to himself, Court and the agency he heads. Specially against the backdrop of eye-popping scams becoming public thanks to a vigilant CAG, RTI law, civil society and 24/7 electronic media. Today, a Government controlled CBI does more disservice to its political masters than good. Resulting in the cacophony of tarnishing the entire political class per se as sab chor hai, notwithstanding those clean. 

 The way forward is to make the agency independent and autonomous. Whereby, the CBI alone has the power to decide if it should appeal any case. Also, the agency must have its own cadre of officials who should carry no political baggage. But this requires clear and firm political will. India needs a sleek CBI that acts without favours and prejudice.

 In sum, our leaders must desist from playing further havoc and converting the CBI into a “Central Bureau of convenience, connivance and corruption.” At the end the day, are we going to mortgage our conscience to corrupt and tainted leaders? Remember, democracy is not competition in Constitutional indecency and impropriety.

 India is too precious to be lost in labyrinth of brazen ‘democracy by concessions and politics of direct sale’. It remains to be seen if the law will catch up with our polity and prove to be their nemesis? We can survive without our tooth paste netas! --- INFA

 

(Copyright India News & Feature Alliance)

 

 

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