02-14-2005, 09:16 PM
Congress gift to Mayawati before UP election, When NDA was in power Congress was screaming against her.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>SC pulls up CBI on Taj corridor case</b>
Pioneer News Service/ New Delhi
In an order which could either delay or upturn the <b>BSP supremo Mayawati's possible exoneration in the Taj Heritage Corridor scam, the Supreme Court has asked the CBI to file in two weeks the evidence on the basis of which the attorney general has opined that the case against her should be closed.</b> While restraining the agency from filing the closure report till the issue is settled, the apex court took it to task for seeking the AG's opinion ahead of the scheduled hearing before the monitoring bench.
<b>Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati and six officers of Uttar Pradesh and Centre are accused in the Rs 175 crore THC scam and the fresh apex court directive has put a spanner in the CBI bid to close the case.</b>
Taking umbrage to the CBI sending the entire evidence in the case to Attorney General Milon Banerjee who opined closure of the case, a bench comprising Justice Ruma Pal, Justice SB Sinha and Justice SH Kapadia took the agency to task for not producing the evidence before the court first.
"It appears from the status report submittedby CBI director US Mishra that having regard to evidence gathered as well as the opinion of the Attorney General, that prosecution was not to be launched," the bench said adding "we direct the CBI to produce the entire evidence and the opinion of AG before the court within two weeks."
Driving home the point that it will thoroughly scrutinise the evidence and the proposed closure opinion, the bench said the CBI would not file a closure report as the apex court was seized of the matter. The bench also recorded the statement of the Solicitor General GE Vahanvati that no closure report would be filed by CBI till further orders.
The bench told Vahanvati, who appeared for the CBI, that it was on the basis of the September 18, 2003 order of the court that the FIR was registered against the former chief minister and the other officials. "So you should have reported back to the court rather than seek opinions from others," it said and wanted to know as to why such a lapse occurred.
Explaining the situation, Vahanvati said there were conflicting opinions expressed by officers within the CBI as to whether or not prosecution should be launched against Mayawati on the basis of the evidence collected so far and keeping this in mind the CBI director had sought the opinion of the AG.
"Let us see the evidence because of which the AG has opined closure of the case," the court said, adding "the opinion cannot be a piece of evidence based on which the CBI has proposed to close the case."
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>SC pulls up CBI on Taj corridor case</b>
Pioneer News Service/ New Delhi
In an order which could either delay or upturn the <b>BSP supremo Mayawati's possible exoneration in the Taj Heritage Corridor scam, the Supreme Court has asked the CBI to file in two weeks the evidence on the basis of which the attorney general has opined that the case against her should be closed.</b> While restraining the agency from filing the closure report till the issue is settled, the apex court took it to task for seeking the AG's opinion ahead of the scheduled hearing before the monitoring bench.
<b>Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati and six officers of Uttar Pradesh and Centre are accused in the Rs 175 crore THC scam and the fresh apex court directive has put a spanner in the CBI bid to close the case.</b>
Taking umbrage to the CBI sending the entire evidence in the case to Attorney General Milon Banerjee who opined closure of the case, a bench comprising Justice Ruma Pal, Justice SB Sinha and Justice SH Kapadia took the agency to task for not producing the evidence before the court first.
"It appears from the status report submittedby CBI director US Mishra that having regard to evidence gathered as well as the opinion of the Attorney General, that prosecution was not to be launched," the bench said adding "we direct the CBI to produce the entire evidence and the opinion of AG before the court within two weeks."
Driving home the point that it will thoroughly scrutinise the evidence and the proposed closure opinion, the bench said the CBI would not file a closure report as the apex court was seized of the matter. The bench also recorded the statement of the Solicitor General GE Vahanvati that no closure report would be filed by CBI till further orders.
The bench told Vahanvati, who appeared for the CBI, that it was on the basis of the September 18, 2003 order of the court that the FIR was registered against the former chief minister and the other officials. "So you should have reported back to the court rather than seek opinions from others," it said and wanted to know as to why such a lapse occurred.
Explaining the situation, Vahanvati said there were conflicting opinions expressed by officers within the CBI as to whether or not prosecution should be launched against Mayawati on the basis of the evidence collected so far and keeping this in mind the CBI director had sought the opinion of the AG.
"Let us see the evidence because of which the AG has opined closure of the case," the court said, adding "the opinion cannot be a piece of evidence based on which the CBI has proposed to close the case."
................
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