The Supreme Court criticised the government on Thursday for various coal block allocation files being untraceable, asking why no FIR was filed after the documents were found missing. It also criticised the Central Bureau of Investigation for its slow pace of investigations, and directed it to complete the probe by December.
Pulling up the government, a bench headed by Justice R.M. Lodha told attorney-general G.E. Vahanvati, who appeared for the coal ministry: “Your explanation that files are being searched for is not reasonable... Four months have passed. Have you filed an FIR for the missing files? Why has a complaint not been registered so far? Is it an attempt to destroy the records?”
The bench also asked the CBI to give the ministry a list of documents and files that it needs within five days, and ordered the coal ministry to furnish them within two weeks thereafter.