New Delhi: Sending Sahara chief Subrata Roy to jail, quashing flawed coal block allocations, putting the Centre on tenterhooks in black money case and edging of cricket czar N Srinivasan kept busy in 2014 the Supreme Court which in a historic order removed outgoing CBI boss Ranjit Singh from 2G spectrum scam cases for his misdemeanour.
Sinha faced the biggest embarrassment in the twilight of his professional career as the court not only removed him from 2G scam cases but also observed that the charge against him of protecting some accused appeared to be “prima facie credible” and “required to be accepted”. Before this unprecedented order, the apex court had also asked him to keep away from the probe of Coalgate in the wake of surfacing of a guest register of his residence which had names of lobbyist and accused of high-profile cases like 2G and coal scam visiting him. The silver lining for CBI, which has been facing flak for its probe in several high-profile cases, was the long awaited ruling by a constitution bench which struck down the provision in the law mandating prior sanction of competent authority to probe and prosecute officials above the joint secretary level which had cropped up repeatedly during the coalgate matters.
The year also saw the apex court cancelling “fatally flawed” coal block allocations since 1993 and not mincing words in condemning the screening committee decisions, endorsed by all ruling political parties.
Black money issue kept SC busy
The burning issue and Narendra Modi government’s pre-poll plank of bringing black money stashed in tax heavens also kept busy the top court which first shot down the last-ditch effort made by the outgoing UPA-II regime to get away with its order on SIT on May 16, the day when the NDA emerged winner in the general election.
The Modi government, though decided to form SIT in its first cabinet meeting, could not save itself from the ire of the top court when it parroted the line of previous regime that it cannot reveal names of account holders as it would violate terms of Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements, entered into with various nations. It was later forced to give all details to the apex court and expelled BJP MP and petitioner in the matter Ram Jethmalani did not leave any opportunity to criticise the present dispensation at the Centre during the hearing.
Sahara chief’s plea trashed
There was hardly any fortnight in the entire year when Sahara chief Roy did not file one or another plea in the apex court. He along with two directors of the firm was sent to jail on March four for not complying with its order on refunding around Rs 20,000 crore of investors’ money. It trashed Roy’s subsequent plea against his detention. However, one of judges recused after delivering a hard-hitting verdict. Currently, another bench is hearing his pleas on repayment of money to SEBI for getting out of the jail.
The IPL row
Betting row plaguing BCCI’s show case event, the Indian Premier League (IPL), involvement of Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan in it and consequential charge of conflict of interest together ensured that the cricket administrator remained the BCCI president-in-exile for major part of 2014. The court, which has now reserved its verdict on a batch of pleas including that of Cricket Association of Bihar, has said that it may consider forming a panel to cleanse cricket and would also like to look into the controversial BCCI amendment 6.2.4 that had enabled an administrator like Srinivasan to own a IPL team. It also asked the BCCI to defer its polls till January end.
The mercy plea of death row convicts judgement
However, one of the landmark verdicts which will go down in the annals of Supreme Court history was the judgement of the Constitution Bench which ruled that “inordinate and inexplicable” delay in deciding mercy plea of death row convicts can be a ground for commuting their sentence. The verdict reignited the hope for life among 15 condemned prisoners, including killers of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who have been living in jails across the country for years in darkness under the constant lurking fear of being executed for their sins.
Grant of legal recognition to transgenders
In another path-breaking verdict, the court granted legal recognition to transgenders or eunuchs as third category of gender and asked the Centre and states to treat them as socially and educationally backward classes to extend quota. However, LGBT (Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community were not successful as their review plea against criminalising gay sex among consenting adults in the country was dismissed and the curative petition was yet to be decided.
SC acts tough against Italian marines
The issue which came under international glare was about murder accused Italian marines, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone as the apex court took a tough stand by refusing their pleas seeking extension of stay in Italy on health ground and permission to visit the home country for Christmas respectively. The court asked them to respect the “Indian laws also” following which they withdrew their applications.
The Sanskrit row
Introduction of Sanskrit and other Modern Indian language in middle of academic session as third language to replace German in Kendriya Vidayalayas created a political storm which was finally settled in the court which asked the Centre to protect the interest of the students.
The Clean Ganga issue
The issue of cleaning holy river Ganga, a much publicised agenda of the NDA government, suddenly hogged centrestage in the court which has been hearing a PIL for over two decades. The Centre placed a blueprint of short, medium and long- term measures, spread over 18 years and thousands of crores of rupees of investment to restore the glory of the holy river.
The row over bid to appoint Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and Vigilance Commissioner by the NDA government also came under the scanner of the apex court which allowed it to continue with its selection processes but asked it to take it’s prior “leave” before going ahead with their appointment.
During the year, the court kept monitoring probes being conducted by CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in 2G cases and coalgate. New CBI Director Anil Sinha was allowed to re-assume the supervisory roles in 2G case, a power which was taken away from his predecessor Sinha merely 12 days before his retirement. The court also asked the CBI to not to file any closure report in coalgate cases without its prior sanction. However, it trashed the plea that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was also in charge of Coal Ministry for sometime, be allowed to be quizzed along with other coal ministers who had been at the helm of affairs since 1993. (PTI)