The 2G and coal block allocation issues that caused bureaucratic and political tremor were eventually handled by the Supreme Court.
Both the stormy episodes had their origin in the reports of the CAG and were subsequently followed up by the media and the judicial action. Finally, it was the Supreme Court which had to deal with the legalities of the policies with reference to the well-known principles of administrative law and to the prescriptions of the Constitution of India, especially relating to distributive justice in the context of largesse of the State being made available to the private parties.
The Supreme Court, in its judgement of September 24, 2014, went on to cancel 214 coal block allocations, calling the decision-making process to be arbitrary, unreasonable, opaque and not in conformity with the rational decision-making in this regard.
The court also made it clear that the investigations into the responsibility and culpability of individual persons responsible (including the beneficiary of the decisions) would continue to be undertaken by the CBI notwithstanding the present judgement.
The chit fund scams, however, emerged through a different process. Their origin was in defrauding of the innocent depositors and the extravagant, demonstrative and conspicuous consumption by those who controlled the chit funds. The background of any of these persons could not have explained their behaviour as the ultra-rich.
The chit fund scams scenario in Odisha, on the face of it, appears to be wider and more deep-rooted than the Saradha scam. The CBI investigation directed by the Supreme Court has only touched the tip of the Iceberg in so far as the alleged chit fund scamsters of Odisha are concerned. The CBI began investigation when the Supreme Court directed it to do so.
The time-gap between the State Government refusing to hand over the matter to the CBI through its insistence in over-trusting its own Crime Branch and the CBI getting into the arena provided opportunities for diversionary tactics and overlooking things that were obviously to be probed into with all earnestness.
This convenient time-gap provided the alleged violators of law and the plunderers of the poor ample opportunity to manipulate and destroy the evidence, especially when there were indications of vital linkages with persons in power at high levels, including political, bureaucratic, investigational and even a section of the media. Such a measure on the part of the State Government and its cussedness in resisting investigation by the CBI was a source of anxiety and suspicion in the minds of a large body of small investors.
Having learnt many hidden treasures from the “Artha Tatwa”, the CBI has now reached the “Sea Shore”, and has many oceans to cross with their many “horizons” to divert them. It is time the CBI created an internal think-tank to study the mechanics adopted by the local slum lords in influencing and deriving undue benefits from political and other leaders.
Except where MoUs exist or there is any business transaction, it is difficult to find any alleged quid pro quo between the leaders in power and the leaders of ill-gotten money. The other avenue is protection money. The different entities that have been used as conduits and the nature of transactions involved call for a wide knowledge of law relating to money laundering, chit funds, property laws, inter-corporate fund management, the RBI and SEBI guidelines and a plethora of connected economic laws linked with such activities.
As the investigation progressed, the burden on CBI was not only to prepare and advance the cases at the micro level, but at the same time the CBI is expected to effectively probe into the machinations, instrumentalities and modus operandi used to subvert the Rule of law to convert public money into private wealth by luring the mass of poor persons to part with their meagre and sole savings with the object of defrauding them.
This will provide the foundation of a rectificatory study to prevent any such scams in the forseeable future. The State has no doubt passed an Act, but it has not carved out an appropriate forum or machinery for ensuring refund of money.
The problem is yet to be dealt with in a comprehensive manner so as to provide curative actions and ensure preventive or deterrent measures.
The CBI should not be left alone in this endeavour. To begin with, every citizen should feed relevant material to the investigating agency and render any required help so that they do not fail to achieve their social objective. let us not forget that every arena has its own Trojan Horses.
let’s also not forget that the unholy combination of power, money, muscle and politics can prevent the best of personnel from discharging their duties with due diligence. The recent case of “Vigilance” weapon and the revelations of what the former CAG was subjected to through registration of a preliminary inquiry by the CBI are warning bells. If there can be an attempt to frame and frighten the CAG, the lesser mortals are in no manner safer.
“We, the people”, therefore, have a very onerous and unavoidable task of protecting the right persons and of exposing the socioeconomic parasites and white ants. A lot of concerted public effort is immediately necessary in this direction without any avoidable delay. This concerns us all!
(The writer, a Senior Advocate, is a former All India Service officer, a former diplomat, a former editor, a former President of Orissa High Court Bar Association and a former Advocate General of Odisha. jayantdas@hotmail.com)