Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, on Wednesday blamed the involvement of top government officials in the coal blocks allocation scam, and demanded that an FIR should instantly be registered.
"The first question that I want to ask the Prime Minister is the same as the Supreme Court asked the government that why has no FIR been lodged. It should be lodged and if no FIR is lodged then the conscience of the government will be under question," she said.
Janata Dal (United) chief Sharad Yadav said that the Coal Minister changed his statements on missing coal files and the Prime Minister gave a statement which did not have any details of the files that are missing.
"Why is the government not transparent?" he asked.
In Parliament yesterday, Dr Singh, who had earlier defiantly said that he is 'not the custodian of files', ceded to pressure from the opposition to make a statement on important documents that are needed for the CBI's investigation and have gone missing.
Dr. Singh yesterday assured the Rajya Sabha that the government is making all efforts to trace the missing files on the coal block allocations.
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Dr Singh said the government has nothing to hide in the matter, and asked the opposition not to draw hasty conclusions and let the House function smoothly. Dr Singh said a majority of over one lakh 50 thousand documents have been handed over to CBI.
He said it clearly shows the government's intention to facilitate the on-going enquiry, which is being monitored by the Supreme Court. The Prime Minister said the government has extended the fullest cooperation to the Comptroller and Auditor General in its performance audit and later to the CBI in its investigation.
Dr. Singh said the matter is sub-judice and the apex court has directed the CBI to prepare a list of missing documents required for the probe and gave two weeks' time to government to provide all documents to the investigating agency.
He said if the government is unable to trace them within the time frame given by the Supreme Court, it will order a CBI enquiry.
The BJP has held Dr. Manmohan Singh responsible and demanded his resignation for an estimated loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crores to the national exchequer by the CAG in connection with the coal block allocation.
The CAG report does not indict the Prime Minister or his office, but the BJP is emphasizing that the Prime Minister held direct charge of the coal ministry for the years under scrutiny.