Sacked minister is now special envoy

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has appointed former law minister Ashwani Kumar his special envoy (Cabinet rank) to Japan for holding high-level bilateral exchanges.

Kumar was forced to resign about three months ago for vetting the CBI’s draft report on coal block allocations, meant for the Supreme Court.

Sources said there was no protocol for appointing a special envoy. The appointment will raise Kumar’s stature and give him immunity during talks with the Japanese government.
An official communication stated that Singh has nominated Kumar “to visit for up to seven days as PM’s Special Envoy for that period (in the rank and the privileges of a Cabinet minister) to maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges with Japan...and to prepare for the upcoming visit of Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan and the Prime Minister of Japan to India.”

A section in the government was surprised over the prime minister’s move. The Centre has appointed special envoys for strategic and diplomatic purposes, like S K Lamba to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Kumar had to put in his papers in May following a hue and cry raised by the Opposition over the Supreme Court’s criticism of the CBI for giving the Law Ministry unauthorised access to the draft of an affidavit on the Coalgate scam. However, Kumar had always maintained that he was not at fault despite the apex court saying that the former minister should not have interfered with the CBI probe, though he was within his right to call for the file.

India and Japan are trying to stitch together a nuclear energy co-operation deal, besides Tokyo offering investments for industrial corridors between New Delhi and Mumbai and Chennai and Bangalore.