The alleged irregularities in the coal block allocations came under judicial scrutiny on Friday with the Supreme Court directing the Centre to explain if the guidelines were strictly followed in allotting the natural resource to private companies.
Turning down the Centre’s plea that the court should not go into the issue as it is being looked into by a Parliamentary committee, the Apex Court said “these are different exercises.”
A bench of justices R M Lodha and A R Dave said the petition raised serious questions and “it requires explanation from the government”.
“There is difference in exercise done by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Parliament and PAC can proceed with the issue on the basis of the CAG report. We don’t want to encroach upon their exercise but the petition raises different things altogether. There are sufficient averments which require explanation from you,” the Court said.
The bench also made it clear that it is confining itself only to the aspect of guidelines formulated by the Centre for allocation of coal blocks.
The court passed the order while hearing a PIL filed by advocate M L Sharma on the alleged coalgate scam.
Keywords: Coal scam, coal block allocation, CAG report, UPA government, coalgate, IMG report, PAC on coal, Coal Ministry, PMO in coalgate
SC should follow the same procedure it followed in 2G scam.
All of us should be really very happy that the Supreme Court has
turned down the Centre’s plea that the court should not go into the
issue as it is being looked into by a Parliamentary committee. It is
only a part of damage control blitzkrieg on Coalgate. The Congress
Party functionaries should realize that CAG is a constitutional head,
and desist from criticising the report. The observation of the court
also points to the fact that the Government is answerable to (the
people) the findings in the report.
Another example of "Judicial Activism ". The Supreme Court's activity in
the time of the UPA-2 government now can be pronounced as the "Golden
Era of Judicial Activism" ....!!!
Everyone should know that it is the office of Comptroller and Auditor
General (C&AG) in Indian republic [Article 148-151, the Constitution
of India, 1949] unlike Auditor General in British India under the
Government of India Act, 1935. People who are criticizing the office
of the C&AG for its current audit report on coal blocks allocations
must be acknowledged with the objectivity of the CAG being as a
comptroller of Consolidated as well as Contingency Fund of India. So
the C&AG for the credibility of 152 years old institution, being as
the guardian of public purse, has the full constitutional right to
ensure the lawful transactions in accordance with the public policies
bearing public accountability on governments. The office of the C&AG
is serving as an independent, competent and credible audit institution
and now the Supreme Court appreciate it because it is the public
accountability and probity which is essential for rooting out
corruption. The Government should think about it.
Look at the photo. Those are children working in these depots. Almost every rule in the book has been violated, right from the allocation of the blocks to the labor laws all need to be reviewed.
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