New Delhi, Jan 31 (IANS) In a clear embarrassment to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Supreme Court Tuesday hauled up his officials for not advising him on Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy’s plea seeking sanction to prosecute then telecom Minister A. Raja for the 2G scam.
“Unfortunately, those expected to give proper advice to respondent No. 1 (Manmohan Singh) and place full facts and legal position before him failed to do so,” said the apex court bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi sand Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly.
The court said this while allowing a petition by Swamy challenging a Delhi High Court order that said that since the CBI was probing irregularities in the grant of 2G licences and allocation of spectrum, it would not be correct to issue a mandamus to the prime minister to take decision on the Janata Party leader’s 2008 request seeking sanction.
But the judges made it clear that they did hold Manmohan Singh guilty.
“By the very nature of the office held by him, respondent No. 1 is not expected to personally look into the minute details of each and every case placed before him and has to depend on his advisers and other officers.”
Speaking for the bench, Justice Singhvi said: “We have no doubt that if respondent No.1 had been apprised of the true factual and legal position regarding the representation, he would have surely taken appropriate decision and would not have allowed the matter to linger for a period of more than one year.”
While agreeing with Justice Singhvi’s conclusions, Justice Ganguly said in a separate ruling: “The position of respondent No.1 in our democratic polity seems to have been summed up in the words of Shakespeare: ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown’.”
Justice Ganguly added that the delay which had taken place in the PMO was “unfortunate” but even Swamy had not alleged that this was because of Manmohan Singh.
The court noted that the prime minister asked his office to look into the matter after Swamy’s Dec 1, 2008 representation was placed before him.
However, the judgment said that instead of complying with the prime minister’s direction, the officer sent the to the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) which was headed by none other than Raja, against whom serious allegations of irregularities had been made.
“It was natural for (Raja) to have seized this opportunity, and he promptly sent a letter dated June 18, 2009 to the appellant justifying the grant of licences,” the judgment pointed out.
“The concerned officer in the PMO then referred the matter to the ministry of law and justice for advice.”
The court pulled up PMO officials for keeping “the matter pending and then (taking) shelter … that the CBI had registered the case”.
But all this happened though Swamy repeatedly wrote letters to the prime minister reiterating the seriousness of allegations made by him.
“In our view, the officers in the PMO and the ministry of law and justice were duty bound to apprise” the prime minister about the seriousness of the allegations by Swamy “so as to enable him to take appropriate decision in the matter”.
