Apex court pulls up NGO for casting aspersions on PM

 The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up an NGO for “casting aspersions” on Prime Minister Narendra Modi without placing on record any substantial evidence.

“This is becoming very abnormal for us. We told you (counsel) to give us the smallest material. We will deal with it...How can a constitutional authority function if you are going to make such allegations,” a bench of Justices J S Khehar and Arun Mishra told advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO Common Cause. Bhushan, for his part, relied upon some purported email communications of Birla and Sahara group companies’ officers to allege that bribes were paid to then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others during 2013-2014.

He said he had received four volumes of "appraisal reports" of the Income Tax department, showing how “hawala transactions” were conducted to pay money to influential people, including Modi and other Chief Ministers.

“What you are saying we don't understand. We told earlier, both Shanti Bhushan and Ram Jethmalani (in previous hearing), to come out with some material but now they are not present,” the bench told Bhushan.

Bhushan, however, claimed he was under the impression that the matter would be heard on January 11, and that is why he could not file an affidavit.

“We have specifically fixed the date of hearing for today. How can it be shifted to January 11. Nobody can change the date, not even the Chief Justice of India once the date has been fixed,” the bench said.