COMMON CAUSE & ORS.versusUNION OF INDIA & ORS.

                               [2017] 1 S.C.R. 556



A                         COMMON CAUSE & ORS.
                                         v.

                          UNION OF INDIA & ORS.
                              (I.A. No. 13 of2014)
B                                       IN
                       (Writ Petition (C) No. 463 of 2012)
                               JANUARY 23, 2017
              [MADAN B. LOKUR, KURIAN JOSEPH AND
c                        A. K. SIKRI, JJ.]
           . Investigation - Special Investigation Tea111 - Appoint111ent -
      To investigate the abuse of authority co111111itted by the then CBI
      Dire.ctor (Sh. Ranjit Sinha) in order to scu/lle inquiries, investigations
      and prosecutions ,being· car,,ried out· by the CBI in coal bloc,k
D     a/location cases -Held: In view of the Report filed by the Co111mittee
      appointed by Supre111e Court to look into the allegations against
      Sh. Ranjit Sinha, a pri111a facie case has been made out for
      investigation into the abuse of authority by Sh. Ranjit Sinha -
      Therefore, Special Investigation Team is appointed to look into the
    · report and other relevant documents and to conduct an investigation
E     - The Special Investigation Team led by the present Director CBI
      may take assistance of two officers of CBI no111inated by the Director
      with due intimation to Supreme Court - The Director, CBI would
      also take the Chief Vigilance Co111111issioner into confidence - The
      Special Public Prosecutor in the coal block a/location cases, would
F     also assist the Director. CBI and the team on legal issues.
           CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : I. A. NO. 13 OF 2014 in
     Writ Petition (Civil) No. 463 of2012
           Under Article 32 of the Constitution oflndia.
            Mukul Rohatgi, AG, A. Sharan, R.S. Cheema, Vikas Singh,
G
      Sr. Advs., Pr~sh&nt Bhushan, Pranav Sachdeva, Ajay Sharma, Gaurav
      Sharma, Ms. Diksha Rai, Ms. Binu Tamta, MK. Marora, D, S. Mahra,
      Amit Anancl Tiwari, Sanchit Guru, Pushpendra.Singh, Ms. Tarannum
    : Cheema, Harinder ·Singh Bains, Ms. Deepeika Kalia, Kapish Seth,
      Ms. Shilpi Singh, Chandra Prakash, Tapesh Kumar Singh, Mohd. Waquas,
H
                                        556
   COMMON CAUSE & ORS. v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS.                                557



Ms. Hemantika Wahi, Amarjit Singh Bedi, Braj Kishore Mishra,                   A
Devashish. Bharuka, Dinesh Kumar Garg, D.. Mahesh Babu, E. C.
Agrawala, Mishra Saurabh, Parijat Sinha, Ramendra Mohan Patnaik,
Mrs. Kirti Renu Mishra, Mrs. Shally Bhasin, V. Shyamohan, Ms. Apama
Jha, Ms. Binu Tamta, Mis. Dua Associates, Ms. Kamini Jaiswal,
Mis. K~ranjawala & Co., Mis. Khaitan & Co. Advs. for the appearing
                                                                               B
parties.
      The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
       MADAN B. LOKUR, J. I. In our order dated I 4'h May, 2015
we had held that it was completely inappropriate for Mr. Ranjit Sinha
(then Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI) to have           c
met persons accused in the coal block allocation cases without the
investigating officer being present or without the investigating team being
present. We were also of opinion that in view of this, it would be necessary
to enquire whether any one or more such meetings that Mr. Sinha had
with the accused persons had any impact on the investigations and
subsequent charge-sheets or closure reports filed by the CBI.                   D

      2. We had requested assistance from the Central Vigilance
Commission in this regard and during the pendency of the proceedings,
we had also appointed a Committee headed by Mr. M.L. Sharma, !PS
(Retired), former Special Director CBI and former Central Information
Commissioner to look into the allegations and give us a report.                 E

      3. Mr. Sharma submitted a report on 4'h March, 2016, a copy of
which was handed over to the learned Attorney General with a request
to consider the report and assist us as to the further course of action.
      4. Thereafter, we heard the submissions ofall the learned counsel
                                                                                F
including Mr. Vikas Singh appearing on behalf of Mr. Ranj it Sinha.
      5. We have perused the detailed report given by Mr. M.L. Sharma
and express our gratitude to him for the invaluable assistance rendered
by him and his team. We would not like to make any comment on the
contents of the report but on a careful perusal thereof, we do think it
                                                                                G
necessary to accept the second prayer made in the I.A. which is to the
following effect:-
       "Direct an SIT appointed by this Hon'ble Court to investigate the
       abuse of authority committed by the CBI Director in order to
       scuttle enquiries, investigations and prosecutions being carried out
                                                                                H
558              SUPREME COURT REPORTS                         [2017] I S.C.R.


A            by the CBI in coal block allocation cases and other important
             cases".
             6. We have considered the issue whether an outside body of
      investigators should be appointed as the Special Investigating Team.
      However, ;,., our considered opinion, since there has been a change of
B     guard in the CBI, we would continue to repose our faith in the impartiality
      of the CBI to look into the report prepared by Mr. M .L. Sharma and
      other relevant documents and conduct an investigation (as a Special
      Investigating Team) into the abuse of authority primafacie committed
      by Shri Ranjit Sinha with a view to scuttle enquires, investigations and
      prosecutions being carried out by the CBI in coal block allocation cases.
c
             7. The Special Investigating Team led by the Director, CBI may
      take the assistance of two officers of the CB! nominated by the Director
      with due intimation to this Court. The Director, CBI will also take the
      Chief Vigilance Commissioner into confidence in respect of the
      investigations. Since the Director, CBI will undoubtedly require the
D     assistance of somebody well conversant with the law, we request Mr.
      R.S. Cheema who is already a Special Public Prosecutor in the coal
      block allocation cases to assist the Director, CBI and his team on legal
      issues.
             8. We make it clear that we have not expressed any opinion on
E     the merits of the allegations made by the petitioner or make any comment
      on the contents of the report prepared by Mr. M.L. Sharma and his
      team except to say that a primafacie case has definitely been made out
      for investigation into the abuse ofauthority by Mr. Ranjit Sinha in terms
      of the report.
F            9. A copy of this order may be provided to the Director, CBI who
      will indicate on the next date of hearing the composition of his team and
      the time required to complete the investigations.
             I 0. We need hardly emphasise that the matter is of considerable
      public importance and should.be taken up with due earnestness by the
G     Director, CBI.


      Kalpana K. Tripathy                                         Directions issued.