SC dismisses CBI director's petition

New Delhi, Jun 5: The Supreme Court today dismissed a petition filed by CBI Director Vijay Shankar seeking to set aside the Jharkhand High Court order directing his personal appearance to explain if has any ego clash for not appearing to explain the inordinate delay in the investigation of seven Bihar fodder scam cases.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Gopal Subramanium pleaded that CBI Director could not appear earlier because of his preoccupation and Additional Director General CBI had appeared in his place.

The vacation bench comprising Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat and Mr Justice C K Thakker took strong exception to the attitude of senior bureaucrats dealing with the High Court order in a cavalier fashion.

The court observed that CBI took 13 years in investigating the case and several witnesses who could have been dispensed with had been deliberately examined by the prosecution to prolong the proceedings as big people were involved.

The court said it wants ''to screw up the CBI and other investigating agencies for deliberately delaying the proceedings where big fishes are involved''.

Finally, the ASG gave an undertaking on behalf of CBI Director, who is presently out of India, to appear personally before the High Court on the next date of hearing.

The court dismissed the petition after recording the undertaking given by the ASG that the CBI Director had no ego problem in appearing before the High Court and undertook to appear on the next date of hearing.

UNI