Spectrum case: SC wants affidavit explaining PM’s silence
18 Nov 2010
The embarrassment for the government over the prime minister's delay in sanctioning the prosecution of former telecom minister A Raja over the 2G spectrum scandal continued today, as the Supreme Court has asked for an affidavit to be filed by Saturday on behalf of the prime minister explaining why he took close to a year to respond to a request for the prosecution of Raja.
A Supreme Court bench comprising justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly on Tuesday asked the government to explain within two days why the "sanctioning authority" - in this case, the prime minister - remained silent for 11 months over a request seeking sanction for the prosecution of A Raja in the 2G case.
"The matter is extremely serious," the court said today, while fixing the hearing for next Tuesday.
Earlier, the much-anticipated reply of the government to the Supreme Court's queries proved bland, as solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam merely told the court that all documents relevant to Subramaniam Swamy's request will be produced in court. He also said that "all letters of Swamy were dealt with."
In November 2008, former law minister and Janata Party president Swamy wrote to the prime minister asking that Raja be prosecuted for violations committed in January that year. Swamy finally had his answer in March 2010 when the government said that would not be possible because the CBI is investigating the case.
The apex court also told the solicitor general said that showing the files was not enough. It has to give the reasons for the delay so that in case of any concealment of fact, the court can fix the accountability. The Supreme Court wants the affidavit to be filed on behalf of the prime minister by a responsible officer explaining the ''11 long months of inaction and silence''.
The Supreme Court's query on why the prime minister did not decide one way or another - whether there was merit in Swamy's petition or not - is likely to harden the opposition demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the alleged scam. This, in turn, may complicate the logjam in Parliament, as the government has constently resisted a JPC probe.
.webp)
