New Delhi:
The Supreme Court today made it clear that the CBI should not share any information with the government on its investigation into alleged irregularities in how coal mining licenses were issued to private companies, a scandal dubbed "Coal-gate."
The court also took on the government over whether its permission is needed for investigators to interrogate senior government officers.
"Your application to share some information with the government makes you give by one hand and take by another," the judges said to the CBI.
Last month, the agency had asked for permission to share some details with the government - to rationalise for example, the request to question a government officer.
But the Supreme Court today suggested that the government's sanction to prosecute its officers should not be needed in cases which are being monitored by the court, a suggestion that provoked strong objections from the government. The case will next be heard on August 6.
In May, the Supreme Court rebuked the CBI for turning into "a caged parrot" after the agency admitted that it had shared a report on the case with officials in the Law Minister's and Prime Minister's offices before it was presented in court. That disclosure forced Ashwani Kumar to resign as Law Minister.
The CBI has said that private players benefited from windfall gains after coal mines were assigned to them without transparency and without detailed background checks by the government.
The investigation is sensitive for the government because for some of the years under scrutiny, the Prime Minister held direct charge of the Coal Ministry. The last Parliament session was paralysed by demands from the opposition for his resignation