New Delhi:
The Supreme Court today accepted the Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI's plea not to appoint an independent senior lawyer as an Amicus Curiae or 'friend of the court' in the coal blocks allocation scam.
The top court was interested in appointing a senior lawyer to read the voluminous status report of the CBI and assist the court.
But the CBI strongly opposed the move and said no outsider from the investigating agency should see the status report. Appointing an Amicus Curiae will interfere with the CBI probe and it will become a court-supervised probe, the agency argued.
The top court made it clear that it is only monitoring and not supervising the probe into the coal scam. Senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for an NGO called Common Cause, had wanted the court to appoint an independent lawyer.
The UPA government is engulfed in a controversy over the CBI's investigation into alleged corruption in the allocation of coal licenses, a scandal that has been dubbed "Coal-Gate."
The alleged scam, worth Rs 1.86 lakh crore according to the national auditor, has become the latest in a glut of financial scandals to envelope the government just as the Congress gets ready to ask voters for a third term in power.
The opposition has been aggressively demanding the PM's resignation over Coal-Gate because for some of the years under scrutiny, he held direct charge of the Coal Ministry.
The next hearings in the case will take place on December 5, 11 and 12, in which the state governments implicated in the scam are likely to argue on the allocation of coal blocks and their roles in awarding them.
Meanwhile, the top court also issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate on a petition by the NGO Common Cause seeking investigation into the proceeds of the crime that was allegedly generated in the coal scam.
The top court was interested in appointing a senior lawyer to read the voluminous status report of the CBI and assist the court.
But the CBI strongly opposed the move and said no outsider from the investigating agency should see the status report. Appointing an Amicus Curiae will interfere with the CBI probe and it will become a court-supervised probe, the agency argued.
The top court made it clear that it is only monitoring and not supervising the probe into the coal scam. Senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for an NGO called Common Cause, had wanted the court to appoint an independent lawyer.
The UPA government is engulfed in a controversy over the CBI's investigation into alleged corruption in the allocation of coal licenses, a scandal that has been dubbed "Coal-Gate."
The alleged scam, worth Rs 1.86 lakh crore according to the national auditor, has become the latest in a glut of financial scandals to envelope the government just as the Congress gets ready to ask voters for a third term in power.
The opposition has been aggressively demanding the PM's resignation over Coal-Gate because for some of the years under scrutiny, he held direct charge of the Coal Ministry.
The next hearings in the case will take place on December 5, 11 and 12, in which the state governments implicated in the scam are likely to argue on the allocation of coal blocks and their roles in awarding them.
Meanwhile, the top court also issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate on a petition by the NGO Common Cause seeking investigation into the proceeds of the crime that was allegedly generated in the coal scam.
