New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the CBI to continue its investigation into allegations that Pankaj Mishra, a "close associate" of former Chief Minister Hemant Soren, and others were engaged in illegal mining in the Sahibganj district of Jharkhand.
However, the top court restrained the CBI from filing a chargesheet till the next date of hearing in July. A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said that the investigation can continue but the chargesheet/final report will not be filed by the CBI till the next date of hearing.
The Jharkhand government moved the apex court challenging the February 23 decision of the High Court, which declined to entertain the state's plea against the CBI probe.
After hearing submissions from senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the Jharkhand government, the bench sought response from the CBI on the state's plea. "Issue notice," said the bench. It was argued before the top court that the High Court had on August 18 last year only ordered for preliminary inquiry by the CBI.
During the hearing, the bench said: "consent (of the state) is not required if the court is treated as a direction or given the liberty to CBI to investigate….".
"Why are you worried about CBI conducting a thorough enquiry?", Justice Khanna asked Sibal. The senior counsel said he had come to the court only for one reason, the standing counsel of Government of India takes an affidavit from a person in jail, who he has never met and the other counsel have also never met, and "files this petition…. the central government counsel takes the vakalatnama of the accused and files this petition".
Sibal said he is working at the office assistant solicitor general and insisted that it is a serious matter and the court should examine it.
Justice Khanna said he will allow the CBI to continue with the investigation and scheduled the matter for further hearing in July. The Jharkhand government had argued that the High Court had dismissed the state's petition on the ground that its coordinate bench had in August, last year directed a preliminary inquiry in the case by the CBI.
The state had argued that the High Court overlooked a clear bar provided under Section 6 of DSPE Act whereby any matter in the purview of the state government could have been investigated upon by the CBI only after having taken consent from the state government.
