Delay and doubts

The CBI's delay in filing FIRs against the accused, including former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSP president Mayawati, in the Rs.175-crore Taj corridor scandal indicates that political factors might be influencing the course of law.

DESPITE the Supreme Court's instruction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on September 18 to register first information reports (FIRs) against former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati and others in the Rs.175-crore Taj heritage corridor scam, the investigating agency does not seem to be in any hurry to act. In fact, the delay in registering FIRs has raised doubts whether Mayawati's allegation - that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is misusing the CBI to put pressure on her - is true. The delay in filing cases is inexplicable, especially in view of the speed with which the agency pursued the case initially.

Officials of the CBI admit that they cannot give a date by when they would file the FIRs. They, however, deny that there is any delay. "We are studying the case before registering FIRs. A thorough study needs to be done to decide under what sections the cases will have to be filed. All legal aspects will have to be taken into consideration," said a senior official. Asked whether there was any "problem" in registering cases against Mayawati, CBI officials said there was none; they wanted to ensure that the case would be strong enough to withstand judicial scrutiny. Besides, they said, the Supreme Court had not set a deadline to file the FIRs. The officials also said that the investigating agency had not initiated the case on its own, but was acting on orders from the Supreme Court. "This makes all charges of political pressure redundant," an official said.

The delay has come as a relief to the Mayawati camp, which is confident the case will not be able to withstand judicial scrutiny. According to sources close to Mayawati, she is confident that there is no case against her. In fact, Mayawati is not even planning to seek anticipatory bail. According to Mayawati's counsel, she signed on the file relating to the project "in good faith" because Principal Secretary P.L. Punia and Chief Secretary D.S. Bagga had examined it earlier. Asked about the release of money for the project, which the apex court said had been done without the mandatory approvals, counsel said Mayawati had no reason to worry because the money was released on the orders of Environment Minister Nasimuddin Siddiqui, who is one of the accused in the case.

On September 18, the Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices M.B. Shah and B.N. Aggrawal had directed the CBI to file FIRs against the accused "considering the serious irregularities and illegalities committed in the Taj heritage corridor project without any approval from appropriate authorities". The Bench, after studying the CBI's report of the inquiry into the assets of the persons involved in the scam, had noted: "For holding investigations against the then Chief Minister Mayawati and then State Environment Minister Nasimuddin Siddiqui, the CBI is directed to lodge an FIR and make further investigations in accordance with the law."

The court directed the Central and Uttar Pradesh governments to hold departmental inquiries against K.C. Mishra, former Union Environment Secretary; R.K. Sharma, former Uttar Pradesh Environment Secretary; V.K. Gupta, former Uttar Pradesh Environment Secretary, who replaced Sharma; Punia; and Bagga. It also directed the CBI to register FIRs against all of them and S.C. Bali, Director of the National Projects Construction Corporation (NPCC), the agency that was engaged to execute the project.

The Supreme Court said it would be open to the State government to suspend its officials pending the departmental inquiry. The court also directed the Income Tax Department to cooperate fully with the CBI in carrying out further investigations. The court directed the CBI to take into consideration all environmental laws, the Water (Prevention and Control of) Pollution Act, 1974, the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act. To facilitate speedy departmental inquiry, the court directed the CBI to provide a `self-contained note' of its investigation so far to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary, the Union Cabinet Secretary and the Union Ministry under which the NPCC functions.

Following the apex court's order and upon receipt of the CBI's note, the Uttar Pradesh government suspended all the accused. R.K. Sharma had been suspended by Mayawati on September 25. It was for the first time in the history of Uttar Pradesh that a former Chief Secretary and a former Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister were suspended. Chief Secretary A.P. Singh said the State government had constituted an inquiry committee, comprising Hemendra Kumar, a retired Secretary to the Government of India, and V.K. Mittal, Chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam, to probe the role of the officials in the scam. The committee is expected to submit its report by January 18, 2004.

According to the CBI report, the contents of which were disclosed by the Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary in Lucknow, Mayawati acquired 131 pieces of property in Uttar Pradesh in recent times. "The former Chief Minister is stated to have acquired property in Lucknow, Noida, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr and Bijnore. While we received photocopies of documents relating to 100 of these properties, the rest were verified from official records," A.P. Singh said.

The CBI report states that K.C. Mishra, who has since been removed from his post in the Environment Ministry and kept on "compulsory wait", made "interpolations and tampered with the files in order to cover up his omissions". The CBI has accused Mishra of tampering with the files to cover up his lapses in failing to approve the "proposal of the Joint Secretary and Special Secretary" asking the Uttar Pradesh government to proceed with the work of the project only after getting statutory clearances and approvals. The CBI questioned Mishra in August and the report of the Central Forensic and Scientific Laboratory had confirmed that he was guilty of "interpolations" in files.

The CBI submitted its report to the Supreme Court on September 11. After studying the report briefly, the same day a Division Bench comprising Justices M.B. Shah and A.R. Lakshmanan directed the CBI to "go after the trail of Rs.17 crores released for the project and find out where it has gone, how it has been spent and who has benefited". Without naming anybody, the Bench said the assets of four persons require immediate verification and gave the CBI a week to complete its probe regarding all their "known and unknown assets". The Bench said the evidence collected so far by the CBI appeared to be prima facie sufficient to initiate departmental proceedings against the officials named in the report. The court had, on August 21, on the basis of the interim report of the CBI, directed the investigating agency to interrogate four or five important persons involved in the scam and submit the final report by September 11.

IN view of the apex court's directives and the promptness shown by the CBI in their immediate aftermath, the current delay in registering the FIRs has obviously raised doubts whether the guilty will be brought to book. The CBI has often been accused of succumbing to political pressure. In fact, there was a debate in Parliament on this topic in the context of the Babri Masjid demolition case when the entire Opposition took the government to task for making the CBI file a diluted charge-sheet against Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani in the Special Court in Rae Bareli. Significantly, this charge-sheet paved the way for Advani's acquittal.

According to political observers, the CBI could come under pressure from the NDA government to go slow on the case because the BJP is once again wooing Mayawati for an electoral alliance in the coming State Assembly elections. The BSP is a force to reckon with in Madhya Pradesh and has some influence in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Delhi. While in Madhya Pradesh the party could play a role to decide the outcome in about 20 seats, in other States it could be the balancing factor. Political observers believe that the BJP, which is desperate to form the government in at least two of these States, can go to any extent to appease Mayawati.

The Uttar Pradesh government's quick move to take action against the officials, while ignoring the role of Mayawati, is also significant. In fact, after the apex court's strong observations, the State government could have initiated an inquiry against Mayawati. Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav told Frontline: "The State government will not initiate any action against Mayawati at its level and will leave it to the CBI to take the case to its logical conclusion. If we take action it will be viewed as political vendetta."

The State government, however, has initiated an inquiry into the Taj expressway project, allegedly involving a Rs.2,500-crore scam. A.P. Singh told mediapersons in Lucknow on September 26: "The government has decided to appoint retired High Court Judge S.R. Misra to inquire into the controversy surrounding the project." Justice Misra has been given two months to complete the inquiry. The proposed eight-lane Taj expressway project to link New Delhi and Agra, which was initiated by the Mayawati government, was being constructed by Jaypee Industries. The Mayawati government gave the entire stretch of land free to Jaypee Industries and waived the stamp duty of about Rs.50 crores. The contractor was also given exclusive rights to construct commercial hubs, including a couple of five-star hotels, along the expressway. Mayawati's opponents allege that she and some bureaucrats transferred swathes of prime land at various strategic locations along the route to their names.