New Delhi, November 16: The Supreme Court today asked some embarrassing questions about the lengthy delay on the part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in taking a decision on a plea for sanction of prosecution of former Telecom Minister A Raja in the controversial 2G Spectrum allocation issue.
“Can the sanctioning authority (Prime Minister in this case) sit on the complaint,” a bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly asked during a hearing on a petition filed by Janata Party President and former Law Minister Subramaniam Swamy, who had sought sanction for the prosecution of Raja.
“The three months time for grant of sanction laid by the Supreme Court is clear for fair and good governance,” the Bench told the Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, who was appearing for the government.
“We find it is now now more than 16 months. The sanctioning authority can say I am not not inclined to give sanction. But we find alleged inaction and silence troubling,” the Bench observed,” adding “the sanctioning authority can say yes or no”.
Congress steers clear of SC comments on PM
NEW DELHI: Congress today steered clear of the Supreme Court seeking explanation from the government as to why Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not act for long on the issue of granting sanction to prosecute former Telecom Minister A in the 2G Spectrum scam.
“I do not know what is the observation of the Supreme Court. Whether it is an observation or direction to the government. I have not seen the text of it.
“First the party and the government would analyse what has been said and then will decide about the response to be given. Till the entire text of what the court has said is not seen and analysed, it will be very difficult to make any comment,” party spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed told reporters here.
He was asked for his reaction on the apex court’s action.
Janta Party leader Subramaniam Swami had sought the court’s intervention on the ground that his application before the Prime Minister seeking his sanction to prosecute A Raja for corruption is pending for last two years.
The party also sought to back Raja’s argument for putting in his papers as Telecom Minister.
“He has himself taken the decision to resign after talking to his party’s leader and has also explained that he did it to ensure smooth functioning of Parliamentary democracy. We donot find any reason to disagree with his remarks,” Ahmed said.
The Congress spokesperson categorically said neither the party nor the government are in favour of JPC into the 2G scam.
Ahmed, however, parried questions on CAG’s remarks against Raja, saying the report has been tabled in Parliament and the party will go through the constitutional process.
He also appealed to the opposition to get back to business saying “disrupting Parliament proceedings is no solution”.
A senior Congress leader on the condition of anonymity said the PM’s acknowledging letters written by Raja does not mean the licenses were sanctioned with his consent.
He said that the resignation of Raja points to changing equations in UPA II, where Congress is in a more powerful position with larger number of seats than it had in the UPA I government.
–PTI