File affidavit on Vohra report, Supreme Court tells govt

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Union government to file an affidavit on the Vohra committee report which dealt with the politician-bureaucrat-mafia nexus.

Besides the follow-up action taken on the report, the affidavit should spell out the measures taken in view of the Supreme Court judgment on March 20. The verdict had directed the government to appoint a high-power committee to check the growing threat posed by the nexus to the investigation of serious crimes.

Giving this direction, a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice J S Verma, Justices S P Bharucha and S C Sen said the case will be heard again on September 11. The affidavit has to be filed by the Union home secretary by September 8.

The judges were hearing a petition seeking autonomy for the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Senior counsel Anil Diwan, appearing in the Jain hawala case, said the investigating agencies -- the CBI, the enforcement directorate and the income tax department -- were not properly investigating the cases, leading to acquittal of several accused.

Diwan said the agencies did not conduct any investigation for five years in the hawala case till the apex court started monitoring the case in October 1994.

The counsel said the key accused in the case, Amir Bhai, was allowed to flee the country and none of the accused in the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act violation could be brought to book.

Diwan submitted that the court should exercise its power under Article 142 of the Constitution to lay down guidelines to make these agencies either independent or autonomous in the matter of investigation and prosecution.

He referred to the National Police Commission report and the Shah Commission report which had recommended the creation of an independent investigating agency.

UNI

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