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Journalism of Courage
The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down the plea of former Union Minister Natwar Singh and his son Jagat Singh to seek access to the documents relied on by the investigating agency for issuing them a show-cause notice for their alleged involvement in the multi-crore oil-for-food scam.
This clears the way for the Enforcement Directorate to finally begin its investigation into the scam,stalled since 2006
Such a petition amounts to obstruction of investigation, observed a Bench,comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar,terming the request for access to documents vague and being made on irrelevant grounds.
While allowing the ED to investigate the scam,the Bench directed the authorities to expedite the probe,not allowing any adjournment. We accordingly direct the adjudicating authority to deal with the complaint as expeditiously as possible and every endeavour shall be made to dispose of the complaint finally at the earliest. No unreasonable request for adjournment shall be entertained by the adjudicating authority, Justice Reddy noted.
The appellants had sought permission to inspect all the papers,including the Pathak committee report,for replying to the notice issued by the ED,which was inquiring into the benefits allegedly derived by the Indians in the scam which was exposed by the UNs Paul Volcker Committee report.
