The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it clear that the Central Bureau of Investigation has not been prohibited from probing the disproportionate assets case against Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati and issued notices to the Centre, CBI and the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister on a plea to review its verdict that quashed the DA case.
A bench of justices P Sathasivam and Dipak Misra issued notice and made it clear that it would only clarify its July 6 verdict, quashing the DA case against Mayawati, on a review petition filed in the case.
"We issue notice to the Union of India, CBI and Mayawati only for this clarification," the bench said.
The court, during the argument, made it clear that the CBI "is at liberty to probe the DA case and they can approach the government for this."
"We never said that the CBI has no power to investigate. It can do so, but it has to get sanction from the state government," the bench said.
The bench further said its verdict quashing the DA case was not to protect anyone.
The review petition has been filed by Uttar Pradesh native Kamlesh Verma, who was an intervener in the case filed by Mayawati in the apex court for quashing the DA case against her.
Seeking review of the apex court's July 6 judgment, the petitioner has argued that the court had decided the case merely on technical grounds, without appreciating the evidence collected by the CBI against Mayawati.
In a major relief to BSP supremo Mayawati, the Supreme Court had on July 6 quashed a nine-year-long disproportionate assets case against her and had pulled up the CBI for exceeding its jurisdiction by lodging an FIR against her without any direction from it.
The apex court had said the DA case against Mayawati was "unwarranted" and the agency proceeded against her without properly understanding its orders, which were confined to the Taj Corridor case, relating to the release of Rs 17 crore by UP government allegedly without any sanction.
