PIL on political-corporate nexus: SC grants time to Centre,CBI

The Supreme Court today allowed a journalist to be made a party in a plea seeking court-monitored probe into the Essar email-leak case allegedly pointing to a "political-bureaucratic-corporate nexus".
The took this decision while giving six weeks time to the Centre and CBI to file their response to the PIL filed by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL).
The bench comprising Justices T S Thakur and Kurian Joseph took strong note of the contention of Centre's counsel that it needed at least eight weeks time as the allegations pertained to various ministries and it will have to collect information from all of them before filing in the court.

"Every secretary cannot be made party. You are the Centre and you will have to collate the information," it said and ordered listing of the PIL on March 11.
The bench allowed the plea of television journalist who was represented by senior advocate Salman Khurshid as he contended that the alleged expose led to the loss of her job and reputation.
Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, did not object to her being allowed to intervene but resisted her being impleaded as one of the respondents. He said that in cases where many names surface all of them cannot be allowed to become a party.

"People, who are likely to be affected, ought to be given a hearing. We cannot deny it. She is saying that she has already lost the job and wants to clear her name. Can we deny the hearing?," the bench said.

"If anybody's reputation is affected the least we can do is give them a hearing before we pass an order. They should not feel that they were kept out of it before the court took a decision", it said.
The Essar Group, in its reply affidavit, has opposed the
PIL and said that it has not done anything "illegal or improper".

"As far as job requests are concerned, in the Indian environment, considering the enormous demand for corporate jobs, people in office or in public life frequently make requests for getting jobs. There is nothing illegal or improper in such requests," it said, adding no appointments were made "only based on the recommendations".
Earlier, the court on Mar 23 had issued notices to the from the Centre and others on the PIL.
At the outset, the bench had asked Bhushan to disclose his source of information in a sealed cover.
"He is a whistle blower. He has already been physically threatened," Bhushan had said while referring to various email communications to claim there has been a nexus among politicians, bureaucrats and the company.

The PIL, filed on February 27, has sought court-monitored probe into alleged "political-bureaucratic-corporate nexus" saying corporates use their money, power to change public policies, and grant favours to politicians and bureaucrats for receiving benefits in return.
It also said corporates used their money and influence to plant stories in media and there was a need for the government to cancel the privileges like subsidised land, newsprint and houses extended to media organisations and journalists who indulge in paid news, or publishing news reports to favour corporates.
The plea has said it is based on internal emails and documents from Essar Group of Companies, which is one of India's leading business conglomerate having multi-billion dollar investments in oil, steel, energy, ports, shipping, infrastructure and services sectors in India.

"This information is being placed before the Court by the petitioner's society for its kind consideration and appropriate directions," the petition said giving details of how 2009 onwards top officials exchanged intra official mails indicating the alleged nexus of politicians, bureaucrats and corporates.