GUWAHATI, January 22: The Governor of Assam, Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha, said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has not paid enough attention while preparing their case against Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta in the LoC scam.In an exclusive interview to The Indian Express today, Lt Gen Sinha said, "If the CBI does not give all the facts which fully establish a prima facie case against Mahanta, I will have no other option but to say I cannot give sanction. It is as simple as that."
The Governor has been waiting for two weeks for the CBI to furnish certain documents to him and clarify his doubts pertaining to the corruption charges against the Chief Minister. "Just on the basis of the CBI's final report submitted to me, I cannot accord sanction to prosecute Mahanta," he said.
Among the documents the Governor wants to see are contrasting opinions - on prosecuting Mahanta - within the CBI's legal cell, the Law Ministry and the Additional Solicitor General to whom the matter was
referred in November last year. "These have not been given to me. They do not form part of the final report. And these are the documents I want to see," the Governor said.
The CBI had placed its final report before the Governor on December 29 last year, requesting for his sanction to prosecute Mahanta on four allegations of corruption. And on January 5, the Governor had handed a list of 24 queries and 13 documents which he needed after scrutinising the voluminous report.
"Enough attention was not given in preparing the case. And as things stand today, a prima facie case is not established against Mahanta," Lt Gen Sinha said.
Asked if his long list of queries following a scrutiny of the CBI's final report meant that the case against Mahanta was either weak or malafide, the Governor said, "I would not say it is malafide. But certainly, since I have raised these queries it means that I am not satisfied with the work done by the CBI. If the work did not require any clarification I would have given the
sanction straight away."
"A Governor is not a rubber stamp of the CBI. He has to apply his mind to what has been presented before him and he must do so in an impartial, fair and just manner. If anyone is under the delusion that because the CBI has asked for sanction, the Governor must sign on the dotted line, he is mistaken," Lt Gen Sinha added.
Asked if the fact that there is no precedent of Governor denying sanction to prosecute a Chief Minister would influence his judgment, Lt Gen Sinha said, "No, I will be guided by my conscience and the law of the land. I do not have to be guided by precedent. There is no such provision in law."
Replying to allegations that he was delaying the matter, the Governor said, "Within five days I had scrutinised the documents and on the sixth day handed over my queries to the CBI, I have received no answer yet. It is only after I receive answers can I take a decision one way or the other."
"I will not be put under pressure from any source. I realise my responsibility.
Because whatever I decide cannot be questioned in the court of law," he added.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
