These are all utopian prayers: Supreme Court junks plea for Vohra Committee Report on criminalisation of politics to be sent to central agencies

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking handing over the 1993 Vohra Committee Report on criminalisation of politics to central agencies, observing that such a prayer was "utopian" in nature. .The Court was hearing the plea filed by BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay seeking a direction to the Centre to hand over the 1993 report to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Intelligence Bureau (IB), and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), among others, for a comprehensive probe into the criminal-politician nexus..The Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy while rejecting the petition granted liberty to the petitioner to approach the Law Commission of India.."I hope country will be at the top. I hope world is a beautiful place. The prayers are like these. One can understand giving a nudge to the Centre, but I cannot encourage petitions like these. These are all utopian prayers," Justice Kaul remarked..Upadhyay had sought concrete action on the report submitted by then Union Home Secretary NN Vohra on the alleged link between crime syndicates, politicians, and bureaucrats.He urged the top court to direct the government to reveal the names of criminals, politicians, and public servants against whom there was tangible evidence in the report and set up special courts to expeditiously try all cases referred to in the report..The petition, placing reliance on the report, said that mafias, smugglers, and money launderers had developed an extensive network of contacts with bureaucrats, government functionaries, politicians, legislators, and strategically located persons in the non-governmental sector. .Senior Advocate Anupam Lal Das, appearing for the petitioner, urged the Court to direct the Centre to grant the Lokpal, investigating powers or have an oversight of the nodal agency..The Vohra Committee Report recommended that an efficient Nodal Cell be set up with powers to take stringent action against crime syndicates, while ensuring that it would be immune from being influenced. However, no follow-up action on the findings of Vohra Committee Report has been initiated in last 27 years..Upadhyay thus urged the Supreme Court to set up a Judicial Commission consisting of retired judge(s) of the apex court with sufficient experience of criminal matters. The Commission, Upadhyay suggested, would monitor the probes by NIA, CBI, ED, IB, SFIO, etc into the disclosures that would be made consequent to the directions. Further legal action could be pursued by the Court once the Commission submits its complete report, the plea states..The petitioner also prayed for a direction to the Lokpal of India to monitor the investigation by the central agencies.Upadhyay sought empowerment of the Lokpal to exercise statutory powers under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and declare that it would be able to launch prosecutions against politicians, bureaucrats, and criminals on the basis of evidence collected for offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other laws.