The UPA Government on its last day in office was snubbed by the Supreme Court which refused to entertain a review petition against its order constituting a special investigation team on black money.
Mentioning a review petition before the vacation bench of Justices BS Chauhan and AK Sikri, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sidharth luthra urged the Court to admit the review petition against the May 1 order of the apex court to constitute a SIT within three weeks. The order was passed on a PIl filed by eminent lawyer Ram Jethmalani.
The SIT headed by former SC judges MB Shah and Arijit Pasayat was tasked to probe into cases of Indians who had stashed black money in foreign banks. Besides CBI and ED, the SIT was to comprise of chiefs of intelligence agencies, law enforcement agencies, and officials of the Government.
The Centre, in its review petition claimed that the constitution of SIT was untenable. Although Centre’s objection to SIT was heard and dismissed by Court on July 4, 2011 and again on May 1, the Centre’s persuasion failed to impress the bench. Disinclined to hear the matter, the Vacation bench said, “How can we sit over the judgment of the other bench.” The Court asked luthra to approach the Registry and seek convenience of the judges who passed the order to sit during the vacation.