 "Rail & Law ministers become UPA's nemesis")
The Congress today decided to ignore calls for resignation of two ministers – Law Minister Ashwini Kumar and Railway Minister Pawan Bansal - for impropriety and corruption although evidence against them mounted, and rallied its MPs and ministers to ‘outshout’ the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) if necessary. As part of its new resolve not to appear defensive, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) moved the Food Security bill today and the Land acquisition bill will be moved tomorrow.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not attend the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee in line with its decision last week that it would attend no meetings called by the Speaker.
Neither minister met reporters, but evidence against both poured out. The opposition dug out records to refute Bansal’s assertion that he had no business dealings with his nephew Vijay Singla who was given a bribe of Rs 90 crore by a member of the Railway Board to secure a more lucrative posting. The member, Mahesh Kumar has since been arrested along with Singla and several others who were part of the conspiracy.
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And if that was not enough, the CBI told the Supreme Court today Ashwani Kumar, a joint secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office and a joint secretary in the Coal Ministry have seen the draft status report on the investigation into the Coalgate and suggested several ‘significant’ changes.
CBI Director Ranjit Sinha stated in his affidavit that “majority of these changes were done by my officers in order to refine the reports either on their own or in consultation with the Additional Solicitor General and his assisting advocate or by the Law Minister. Besides, a few changes were also done on the suggestion of the Attorney General and officials of the PMO and the Ministry of Coal.” He named Shatrughna Singh of the PMO and A K Bhalla of the Coal Ministry as those who have contributed to the changes.
The CBi stated that it was difficult now to attribute each change to a particular person with certainty. However, it admitted that “significant changes” were made in the final status report pertaining to preliminary enquiries with regard to allocation of coal blocks in the period between 1993 and 2005 and the period between 2006 and 2009.
“The tentative finding about non-existence of a system regarding allocation of specific points was deleted at the instance of the officials of the PMO and the Ministry of Coal,” the affidavit said.
One of the changes made by the Law Minister was with regard to the scope of the enquiry. The CBI said that “deletion of a sentence about the scope of the enquiry with respect to legality of allocation while the amendments in the law were in progress was done by the Law Minister.” Another change in the final status report was made by the PMO and Coal Ministry officials, referring to the non-existence of approved guidelines for allocation of coal blocks.
The affidavit will be examined in open court on Wednesday when the bench presided over by Justice R M Lodha will resume hearing in a public interest petition seeking the cancellation of the illegally allocated coal blocks during the NDA and UPA regimes. The court, accepting the petition moved by Common Cause, has been grilling the government over the allocation of coal blocks and vetting by “political masters”. At the last hearing the court asked CBI to reply to its six questions.
The affidavit chronologically narrates the several meetings between the CBI sleuths, government functionaries and law officers. The proceedings have resulted in a spat between former Additional Solicitor General Harin Raval and Attorney General G E Vahanvati, after which Raval resigned his post. He has blamed Vahanvati for making him a “scapegoat”.
In the CBI version, Raval told the court “without instructions” that the status report had not been shared with anyone and it was meant only for the court. That statement was made to the court on March 12 “on his own”. Since the query posed by the court was “spontaneous” the question of the CBI instructing Raval did not arise, says the CBI.
In response to the court’s demand, the CVs of supervisory officers in the case have been submitted to the court in a sealed cover along with other relevant documents. Ranjit Sinha tendered “unconditional apology” to the court for “any inadvertent omission or commission” on his part and has assured it that the investigations are being conducted “independently by a team of officers with utmost sincerity and professionalism and would continue with the same zeal and purpose.”
Whether the court will accept Sinha’s statements at face value or will demand more be done in the matter will be known on 8 May when the matter comes up again.
Meanwhile the opposition kept up the heat on Bansal, demonstrating in large numbers outside his house.