Swamy moves SC against Delhi high court order in 2G spectrum scam
25 Sep 2010
Janata Party leader Subramanium Swamy yesterday sought the Supreme Court's (SC) permission to appeal against an order of the Delhi High Court dismissing his plea requesting sanction to prosecute union minister of communications and IT A Raja in the 2G Spectrum scam.
Swamy's petition comes following the SC issuing notices to Raja and the CBI on a petition by NGO People's Union for Civil Liberties, which alleged that the minister had in connivance with operators gifted away scarce national resources in the shape of 2G spectrum at ''throwaway prices'', causing a national loss of Rs 70,000 crore.
On 13 September, the court had asked the CBI why it had registered an FIR against 'unkown persons' though it had enough information on identities of the suspects. The CBI yesterday filed its response in a sealed cover.
Blaming Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his 'failure' to grant sanction for the prosecution of Raja, which had led to the lapse of the litigation in HC, Swamy said Singh had a duty to apply his mind within a reasonable time.
On 18 August, the HC had dismissed Swamy's petition for sanction to prosecute Raja on the grounds that a CBI probe was in progress.
The special leave petition (SLP) by Swamy could prove lead to a major embarrassment to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.