The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a plea by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation and others for appointment of a group of independent persons (a special investigation team) to assist the court in monitoring the investigation being done by the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department in the 2G case.
A Bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly said that although initially the CBI might not have taken up the 2G case probe with the requisite seriousness, “after December 16, 2010 it has conducted the investigation satisfactorily. Therefore, there is no justification for appointing a group of persons to directly or indirectly scrutinise or supervise the further investigation being conducted by the CBI and other agencies.”
However, “keeping in view the nature of the case and involvement of a large number of influential persons, we feel that it will be appropriate to require the Central Vigilance Commissioner and the Senior Vigilance Commissioner to render assistance to the court in effectively monitoring further investigation.”
The Bench said: “In future, copies of the report(s) of the investigation conducted by the CBI and other agencies shall be made available to the Central Vigilance Commissioner in sealed envelopes; within the next one week, the Central Vigilance Commissioner and the Senior Vigilance Commissioner shall examine the report(s) and send their observations/suggestions to this court in sealed envelopes, which shall be considered along with the report(s) of the CBI and other investigating agencies.”
The aforesaid directive should not be construed as a reflection on the integrity of the investigation done so far by a team of the CBI and other investigating agencies, or which might be done in future, or on their competence to effectively perform the job in the 2G case.
