SC asks Govt to put on record PM's action on Raja

SC asks Govt to put on record PM's action on Raja
November 18, 2010
New Delhi


The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to file by Saturday an affidavit before it on Prime Minister Manamohan Singh's "alleged inaction and silence" on Subramaniam Swamy's plea seeking sanction to prosecute ex- Telecom minister A Raja in the 2G spectrum scam case.

Calling the lengthy delay in taking a decision on the Janata Party leader's petition as an "extremely serious matter", the Apex Court also said the CAG report on the 2G spectrum allocation placed in Parliament was "revealing."

A bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly granted time to the Centre to file the affidavit after Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium said that he is in a position to place before it the entire record on the issue.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Swamy, the president of Janta Party, seeking a direction to Prime Minister for grant of sanction for prosecution of the DMK leader who has since resigned as Telecom Minister in connection with the spectrum allocation controversy. Raja resigned on Sunday.

The Solicitor General told the court that he could file an affidavit on behalf of the government.

The bench also asked Swamy that if he wants to file any affidavit, he can do so by Monday. It posted the matter for further hearing on Tuesday.

After a brief hearing, the bench asked the Solicitor General to file an affidavit giving details on the issue "so that tomorrow you may not say that the opportunity was not given to place the records".

During the course of the submissions by the Solicitor General, the court said, "All these statements are oral, it will be extremely serious if we find ultimately that something is kept back from this court, so it will be appropriate to file an affidavit."

Swamy said he had also received a letter from Raja that why sanction would not be granted on his plea.

At this point, the bench said how can Raja write such a letter. "He is not a sanctioning authority. We cannot consider it," the court said.

The bench also took on record the CAG report submitted in Parliament.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation, said the observations made in the CAG report were damaging.

To this, the bench said, "Why are you saying it is damaging, it is revealing."

At the outset, the Solicitor General submitted to the court that he has already gone through all records pertaining to Swamy's complaint against Raja to the Prime Minister and the detailed communication between him and the PMO.

He sought to assert that total transparency was maintained on the issue.

Swamy, however, contended that he received only one letter from the PMO in March 2010 on his plea seeking prosecution of Raja. "There was no other letter," he said.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday had asked some embarrassing questions on lenghty delay on the part of the Prime Minister in taking a decision on Swamy's plea for grant of sanction to prosecute Raja in the Spectrum scam.



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