2G affidavit filed in SC
Evidence was prerequisite to grant sanction: PMO
PTI
NEW DELHI, NOV 20
An affidavit was filed on behalf of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Supreme Court maintaining that the request for sanction for prosecution of former Telecom Minister A Raja in the 2G spectrum allocation was considered by him and that he was advised that evidence collected by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was necessary before taking a decision.
This was stated in the 11-page affidavit filed on behalf of the prime minister through Director, PMO (Prime Minister’s Office) , V Vidyawati, in compliance with the direction given by a bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly after it had made strong observations on the alleged inaction.
“According to the advice received from the Department of Legal affairs, the decision of granting sanction for prosecution may be determined only after the perusal of the evidence (oral or documentary) collected by the investigating agency, i.e CBI and other materials to be provided by the competent authorities.
“On this note, the joint secretary (PMO) suggested that the Ministry of Law and Justice could be requested to send an appropriate response to the petitioner Swamy. This was approved by the prime minister on February 13, 2010,” the PMO official said.
The affidavit lists chronologically various letters received from Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy starting from November 29, 2008 seeking sanction and the voluminous material he kept sending from time to time in support of his case and how the prime minister attended to them.
It also referred to letters received from some others seeking prosecution of Raja.
The official said in the affidavit that the Ministry of Law on February 22, 2010 stated that since it was only an advisory body to tender a legal advice they were not administratively concerned with the accord of sanction.
“It was suggested that Department Of Personnel and Training, which is administratively concerned with the matter, be requested to send a reply to Swamy,” the director said and elaborated that she prepared a note in this regard on March 5, 2010 for the DoPT which was “considered at various levels and approved.”
The affidavit said that based on Swamy’s March 8, 2010 letter, a request was made to the Secretary DoPT and the Department of Telecommunication to immediately give the status of the communication from the chief vigilance commissioner and registration of the case by the CBI.
