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The Supreme Court today recommended appointment of a high level
committee to ensure in-depth investigation into the nexus among the
politicians, bureaucrats and mafia dons, highlighted by the N N
Vohra Committee, and to secure prosecution of those involved.
The committee, with all necessary powers, should be appointed on
the advice of the Prime Minister and in consultation with the
Speaker of the Lok Sabha, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice
A M Ahmadi and Justice Sujata Manohar said.
The court thus disposed of a joint public interest petition by
Rajya Sabha member Dinesh Trivedi the Public Interest Legal Support
and Research Centre and the Consumer Education Centre.
The Bench held that the nodal agency set up by the government to
follow up the Vohra Committee report findings, suffered from
certain limitations, as it comprised senior bureaucrats and may not
be viewed by the public as completely independent or immune from
pressures of every kind.
"Therefore it (nodal agency) was not suitable for pursuing an
investigation into a matter of such grave nature and taking it to
the stage of prosecution where there may be nexus between persons
under investigation and powerful persons such as those referred to
in the report," the judges observed in their 25 - page judgement.
The court said in view of the seriousness of the charges involved
and the clout wielded by those who were likely to become the focus
of the investigation, it was necessary that the body entrusted with
the task of following the investigation through the stage of
prosecution, be such that it was capable of enjoying complete trust
and confidence of the people.
The court ruled that the high level independent commission could be
set up by the President.
The judges held that m view of the suspicion that those involved
may well be individuals who occupy, or have occupied, high
positions in government it was necessary that the body be able to
obtain sanctions which were necessarily required before any
prosecutions were launched.
The court said it was therefore of the view that the matter needed
to be addressed by a body which could function with the highest
degree of independence, being completely free from every
conceivable influence and pressure.
"Such a body must possess the necessary powers to be able to direct
investigation of all charges thoroughly before it decides, if at
all, to launch prosecutions. To this end the facilities of trained
investigators with distinguishable records and impeccable
credentials must be made available to it," the court held.
The judges said the Vohra Committee report, the supporting material
upon which it was based and the unequivocal assistance of all
existing intelligence agencies must be forwarded to this body.
Dealing with the demand of the petitioner for a full disclosure of
all the material placed before the Vohra Committee, the judges said
they were reluctant to do so as it may harm the agencies involved
in the collection of meterial. Furthermore, not all the information
collected and recorded in the intelligence reports were
substantially by hard evidence.
Focussing on the report and the follow up measures that needed to
be implemented, the court observed that the report revealed
several alarming , and deeply disturbing trends that were prevalent
in our present society.
The judges said for sometime now, it had been generally perceived
that the nexus between politicians, bureaucrats and criminal
elements in the society had been on the rise, the adverse effects
of which were increasingly being felt on various aspects of social
life.
"Indeed the situation has;. worsened to such an extent that the
President of our country has felt constrained to make references to
the phenomenon in his addresses to the nation on the eve of the
Republic Day in 1996 as well as in 1997.
The matter, is therefore, one that needs to be handled with extreme
care and circumspection," the judges pointed out.
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