LexCOMMON CAUSE & ORS. versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.
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(2015] 6 S.C.R. 731 COMMON CAUSE & ORS. v. UNION OF INDIA AND ORS. I.A. No. 13/2014 and Crl. M.P. No.387/2015 IN (Writ Petition (C} No.463/2012) MAY 14, 2015 [MADAN B. LOKUR, KURIAN JOSEPH AND A.K. SIKRI, JJ.] A B c Investigation - Fair investigation - Coal-Block allocation case - Interlocutory application, seeking direction to the Director CBI (Ranjit Sinha) not to interfere with investigations D in coal-block a/location case and direction to appoint SIT to investigate the abuse of authority committed by the CBI Director in order to scuttle inquiries, investigations and prosecutions carried out by CBI, in coal block allocation cases and other important cases - Held: On account of E superannuation of the Director, the plea of his refusal from the investigation has become infructuous - Investigations must not only be fair, but must appear to have been conducted in a fair manner- The responsibility of investigating agency. F to ensure that innocent person is not subjected to criminal trial, is coupled with equally high degree of ethical rectitude to ensure that investigations are fair and without bias - The fact of the CBI Director meeting some of the accused persons without the Investigating Officer or the investigating team G creates a doubt regarding fairness of the investigations - Therefore, some further inquiry is necessary to ensure the fairness of investigations in coalb/ock a/location cases as to whether any one or more such meetings had any impact on 731 H 732 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2015] 6 S.C.R. A the investigations and subsequent charge-sheets or closure reports - Assistance of Central Vigilance Commission sought for determining the methodology for conducting such inquiry- Investigation. B Sidhartha Vashisht@ Manu Sharma v. State (2010) 6 SCC 1; ManoharLal Sharma (2014) 2 SCC 532-relied on. · FIR- Registration of- Interlocutory application seeking recusal of the CBI Director (Ranjit Sinha) from the c investigation in coalblock a/location case and also seeking appointment of SIT to investigate the abuse of authority by him - Application by the CBI Director seeking direction to register FIR against the Advocate (Prashant Bhushan) and the petitioner/applicant for making deliberate and intentional D false statements in the present proceedings - Took the plea that they were guilty of peljury and contempt of court and that the advocate was also guilty of violating the provisions of Official Secrets Act- HELD: If the whistle blower gets access to the documents, secrecy of which ought to have been E maintained by the CBI and if the disclosure of such documents is in public interest and not malafide, he cannot be held liable for contempt of court or perjury- The file notes regarding the case of an accused in coalblock allocation case which was placed on record, cannot be described as an F official secret' - Therefore, the application of the CBI Director dismissed- Contempt of Court- Official Secrets Act, 1923 - Penal Code, 1860 - Perjury. Perumal v. Janaki (2014) 5 SCC 377; State of Madhya G Pradesh v. Narmada BachaoAndolan &Anr. (2011) 7 SCC 639; Indirect Tax Practitioners Association v. R.K.Jain (2010) 8 sec 281 - referred to. Case Law Reference H (2010) 6 sec 1 relied on. Para 33 COMMON CAUSE v."UNION OF INDIA (2014) 2 sec 532 relied on. Para 34 (2014) s sec 377 referred to. Para 38 (2011) 1 sec 639 refereed to. Para 39 (2010) 8 sec 281 referred to. Para 40 CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: I.A. No. 13 of 2014 and Crl M.P. No. 387 of 2015 IN Writ Petition (Civil) No. 463 of 2012 [UNDER ARTICLE 32 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA] 733 A B c D A. Sharan, Vikas Singh Guru Kishan Kumar, Prashant Bhushan, Pranav Sachdeva, Sudip Shrivastava, AmitAnand Tiwari, Sanchit Guru, Ashutosh Jha, Abhinav Raghuvanshi, Abhinandan Banerjee, Deepika Kalia, Kapish Seth, Chandra Prakash, Meenakshi Grover, Ajay Sharma, Gaurav Sharma, E Menaka Guruswamy, Himanshu Agarwal, Madhulika, D.S. Mahra, Tapesh Kumar Singh, Mohd. Waquas, T.K. Singh, S.S. Shamshery, Amit Sharma, Sandeep Singh, Ruchi Kohli, S. Udaya Kumar Sagar, Krishna Kumar Singh, Kamini Jaiswal, Mishra Saurabh, D. Mahesh Babu, Kirti Renu Mishra, Anip F Sachthey, Saakaar Sardana, Khaitan & Co., E.G. Agarwala, Braj Kishore Mishra, Aparna Jha, Ramendra Mohan Patnaik, Dinesh Kumar Garg, Shally Bhasin, Hemantika Wahi Jesal Wahi, for the appearing parties. The order of the Court wa
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