Mayawati vs Union Of India & Ors

directed the CBI to conduct an inquiry on the basis of an I.A. filed in the aforesaid writ petition alleging various irregularities committed by the officers/persons in the Taj Heritage Corridor Project and to submit a Preliminary Report.

(c) By means of an order dated 21.08.2003, this Court issued certain directions to the CBI to interrogate and verify the assets of the persons concerned with regard to outflow of Rs. 17 crores which was alleged to have been released without proper sanction for the said Project. When the case was taken up for hearing on 11.09.2003, a report was submitted by the CBI and it was directed to be kept in a sealed cover in the Registry.

(d) This Court, in its further order dated 18.09.2003, on the basis of the report dated 11.09.2003, granted further time to the CBI for verification of the assets of the officers/persons involved. The CBI- Respondent No. 2 herein submitted a report on 18.09.2003 before this Court which formed the basis of order dated 18.09.2003 wherein the CBI was directed to conduct an inquiry with respect to the execution of the Taj Heritage Corridor Project under Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ) Area at Agra.

(e) Pursuant to the orders of this Court, an FIR was lodged on 05.10.2003 being RC No. 0062003A0018/2003 under Section 120-B read with Sections 420, 467, 468 and 471 IPC and under Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the PC Act against several persons including the petitioner herein. In the said FIR, certain details and several developments which took place with regard to the aforesaid Project have been given. As per the allegations contained in the report dated 11.09.2003, several irregularities were allegedly being found in the aforesaid Project. Pursuant to the same, investigation has been completed and the report was forwarded to obtain the sanction from the competent authority, namely, the Governor for prosecuting the Chief Minster of the State. The Governor, by order dated 03.06.2007, declined to accord sanction to prosecute the petitioner.

(h) The said FIR has been lodged by Shri K.N. Tewari, Superintendent of Police, CBI/ACP, Lucknow, however, in the column of complaint at page No. 2 of the FIR, the name of the complainant/informant has been mentioned as Shri Inder Pal, Assistant Registrar, PIL Branch, Supreme Court of India, New Delhi even though no such order or direction issued by him for registration of the case. It is further pointed out that Shri Inder Pal has not signed any such FIR as complainant/informant. Pursuant to the impugned FIR - R.C. No. 19 of 2003 the CBI conducted raids, search and seizure operations at all the premises of the petitioner and her relatives and seized all the bank accounts.

(j) It is further pointed out that this Court in its order dated 25.10.2004, after perusing the investigation reports filed by the CBI, held that no link was found between the irregularities alleged to have been found in respect to the assets matter and the Taj Heritage Corridor Project which was the subject-matter of the reference before the Special Bench.

(m) On 05.06.2007, the CBI moved an application before the Special Judge, Anti Corruption Bureau, (CBI), Lucknow informing that the Governor had refused to grant sanction. On perusal of all the materials including the order of the Governor declining to grant sanction, the Special Judge held that in the absence of sanction to prosecute the petitioner, the Court has no jurisdiction to take cognizance.

(n) The order of the Governor was also challenged before this Court in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 434 of 2007. However, this Court, by order dated 06.08.2007, dismissed the same as withdrawn. Even thereafter, the petitioner has made several representations to the Director, CBI to drop the investigation on the basis of the aforesaid FIR. However, the CBI is bent upon harassing the petitioner. Hence, she approached this Court by filing the present writ petition.

9) As against the abovesaid stand of the CBI, the petitioner, in the form of rejoinder and supplementary affidavits, has pointed out that all income shown in her accounts in the form of gift or otherwise are genuine and legal covering from 1995 to 2004. It is further pointed out that all orders passed by the Income Tax Authorities have been brought on record and all of them attained finality and no further appeal is pending against them and all the assessments were reopened investigated and re-assessed.

Otherwise CBI would be flooded with a large number of cases and with limited resources, may find it difficult to properly investigate even serious cases and in the process lose its credibility and purpose with unsatisfactory investigations.

24) In the light of the above discussion, we hold that in the absence of any specific direction from this Court in the order dated 18.09.2003 or any subsequent orders, the CBI has exceeded its jurisdiction in lodging FIR No. R.C. 0062003A0019 dated 05.10.2003. The impugned FIR is without jurisdiction and any investigation pursuant thereto is illegal and liable to be quashed, accordingly quashed. The writ petition is allowed.

JULY 6, 2012.