PM wrongly advised on his plea to prosecute Raja: Swamy
Monday, 22 November 2010, 23:18 IST   |    1 Comments
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New Delhi: Janata Party Chief Subramanian Swamy on Monday accused the Law Ministry and government law officers of wrongly advising Prime Minister Mammohan Singh to wait for evidence before deciding on sanction to prosecute former Telecom Minister A Raja in the 2G spectrum case. "It is regrettable that law officers of the government had failed to apprise the PM of the law of the land that he must decide on the sanction question only on the material provided by me," Swamy, who sought Raja's prosecution, told the Supreme Court in his nine-page affidavit, submitted to the court's registry. The Prime Minister's affidavit to the court on Saturday had disclosed that the Law Ministry had advised him to wait for the CBI to gather the oral and documentary evidence before deciding on the question of prosecuting Raja. "The Prime Minister made independent inquiries on the substance of my material provided in the these letters, which is against the judgements of this court," Swamy said. Swamy also questioned the decision of the Prime Minister's Office to refer his plea to prosecute Raja to Telecom Ministry, terming it as "patently illegal" and against various apex court's rulings on the issue. "The Prime Minister had forwarded my petition to the accused minister Raja for conveying his (the latter's) defence to me. Raja then wrote to him a letter dated June 18, 2009," said Swamy "This too is against the judgements of this court wherein it is held that in a petition for sanction there is no lis (dispute). Hence sending my letter of November 29, 2008 to Raja was patently illegal," he said. Swamy also lashed out at the functioning of top bureaucrats working in the PMO , accusing them of trying to protect Raja and causing inordinate delay in deciding over his plea to prosecute him for allocation of the spectrum to alleged ineligible operators at throw-away prices. "The affidavit under consideration (filed by the PMO) details the sorry state of bureaucratic affairs in the nation's highest seat of executive power, it appears to be geared to block any legal action against the corrupt acts of ministers," said Swamy in his affidavit. "These officers have even flouted the Manual of Office Procedure [Volume II on Procedure in dealing with statutory matters, letters from persons and inter-Ministerial communications] which they are obliged to follow," Swamy pointed out. Swamy also pleaded to the court to lay down firm guidelines to ensure that no plea by a private citizen seeking prosecution of the high and the mighty are frustrated by red tape. "The court may, therefore, lay down guidelines so that such deliberate obfuscation by the bureaucracy in such an important matter of prosecuting corruption, is rectified, so that in the future a citizen's public spirited efforts to set the law in motion is not rendered sterile," Swamy said. Referring to various inter-ministerial and departmental communications made by the Prime Minister's Office over his various letters seeking nod to prosecute Raja, Swamy asserted that the PMO's affidavit amply reveals bids to "derail" his plea for prosecution. "It becomes evident that throughout it was the apparent determination of the Government to derail all attempts by me to legally pursue the prosecution in this monumental and unprecedented scam," alleged Swamy. "Even now the Government is quite without any reservation in shamelessly delineating these manoeuvres," Swamy said, referring to various inter-ministerial and departmental communications, detailed in the PMO's affidavit over his plea to prosecute Raja. "It is submitted that such manoeuvres delineated lead to the irresistible inference of collusive complicity of all Government departments concerned, at least in scuttling any progress in processing my application," he alleged. Swamy pointed out that "except for the three pointed queries from the Prime Minister himself, no attempt appears to have been made to get to the meat of my data." He said, "The entire resources of the PM's office in regard to staff and access to government information and the legal knowledge of the highest law officers of the land, has been used only to attempt to ensure that that any finality on my application can be put off indefinitely."
Source: PTI
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