The Supreme Court on Friday appointed former Advocate General of Punjab and senior lawyer Rajinder Singh Cheema as the Special Public Prosecutor in the coal block allocation cases. He will represent both CBI and Enforcement Directorate in a court headed by Additional Sessions Judge Bharat Parashar, who was nominated by Delhi High Court as the Special Judge to hear coal block allocation cases.
The name of Cheema was recommended by CBI special counsel Amarendra Saran to the Supreme Court Bench monitoring the coal block investigation. Cheema, who is the Special Prosecutor for CBI in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, was appointed as Advocate General of Punjab in 2005, a post which he quit in 2007 after Shiromani Akali Dal Government came to power. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Maninder Singh also held no reservation on the name and welcomed the court’s suggestion.
With all parties in agreement, the Bench of Chief Justice RM lodha, Justices Madan B lokur and Kurian Joseph directed the Delhi Government to issue appropriate notification appointing him as CBI Special Prosecutor in coal scam. In addition, the Bench asked both Delhi Government and Centre to issue separate notification on appointing Special Judge Bharat Parashar to try coal block cases. The apex bench held that no court other than Supreme Court will entertain petition for stay of investigation or trial in the coal scam case. Although Solicitor General Ranjeet Kumar felt that a “valuable right” of accused will be taken away, the Bench felt the order was essential to ensure speedy trial.
The court directed CBI to supply all case material including case diaries to Cheema who will have the discretion of choosing lawyers of his choice to assist him in examining final reports of CBI to ascertain whether a case for trial was made out.
CBI special counsel Saran informed the court that two out of 14 cases recommended for registration of FIR by the two Vigilance Commissioners (VCs) had been lodged. However, in the remaining 12 cases, the VCs did not give any reason. In one case, Saran pointed out that the conclusion drawn by VCs did not concur with the view of any CBI official including the investigation officer. “It could be a typing error,” Saran said. The Bench directed the VCs to give their remarks on the application and posted the matter for September 1.
Meanwhile, the Income Tax department got the go-ahead from court to access files and documents seized by CBI from the offices of Aditya Birla Group where unaccounted cash to the tune of Rs25 crore was found during raid. CBI has charged Birla group owner Kumaramangalam Birla and former Coal Secretary PC Parakh in relation to a coal block allocation made to Hindalco in November 2005.
Cheema is former Advocate General of Punjab. He will represent both CBI and Enforcement Directorate in the court
Additional Sessions Judge Bharat Parashar, nominated as Special Judge by Delhi High Court, will hold trial in all coal scam cases
The court directed CBI to supply all case material including case diaries to Cheema who will have the discretion of choosing lawyers of his choice to assist him in examining final reports of CBI to ascertain whether a case for trial was made out