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Common Cause & Ors. v. Union of India and Ors.

Writ Petition (Civil) · Neutral citation not assigned (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 463 of 2012)Decided 14 May 2015
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 463 of 2012
Justice Madan B. Lokur · Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice A.K. Sikri

Background

This is an interim order, not a final judgment. In a pending public interest petition about coal block allocations, an application sought the recusal of the then CBI Director, Ranjit Sinha, and a court-appointed SIT to investigate his alleged abuse of authority in the coal block investigations. Mr. Sinha filed his own application accusing the petitioner's counsel, Prashant Bhushan, and Common Cause of perjury and contempt.

Decision Breakdown

This is an interim order, not a final judgment. On 14 May 2015 the Court held the recusal prayer infructuous because Mr. Sinha had already retired, and dismissed his perjury and contempt application on merits. It found it inappropriate that he had met accused persons without investigators present, but did not decide the SIT request. It held that further inquiry was necessary, issued notice to the Central Vigilance Commission for assistance on how to conduct it, and adjourned that question to 6 July 2015.

Lesson Learnt

There is no final ruling yet on whether an SIT should investigate the alleged interference. The Court observed that officers of an investigating agency should not meet an accused privately without the investigating team present.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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