Salman Khurshid: Top priority to sort out Solicitor General resignation issue

New Delhi: Salman Khurshid has taken over as the new Law Minister from Veerappa Moily. He met Moily this morning to take stock of his ministry. He declared that a strong Lokpal Bill is high on his priority list along with the Judicial Accountability Bill and the Communal Violence Bill.

Khurshid said he is all set to sort out the standoff between the government and Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium over his resignation but only after consultations.

Mr Subramanium had resigned over the weekend in protest against the government's decision to use a private lawyer in a case involving Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal. Mr Subramanium said that he was resigning "to protect the dignity of the office." Sources say Mr Moily asked Mr Subramanium to reconsider his resignation, but the Solicitor General bypassed him and sent his resignation letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Soon after his swearing in on Tuesday, Mr Khurshid spoke to NDTV.

Here's an excerpt from the interview.

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NDTV: There is still a lack of clarity whether the Solicitor General's resignation is to be accepted by the PM. Is that something you believe that there is a scope to resolve?

Salman Khurshid: I have not even looked at the facts...I only know it from the media. But I will want to take this as a high-priority matter and act on it tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. I will take a call on it when I look into the facts.

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NDTV: But you hope to resolve it amicably?

Salman Khurshid: I don't know how far it has gone. Predicting anything at this point of time would not be safe. I will look in to the matter and see what advice I can give.

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NDTV: Do you believe that one of the things the government has to do is to reassert its credibility in order to take on a judiciary at times politicians feel, has over reached. How do you see the relationship changing and is that going to be a priority area for you?

Salman Khurshid: We need to do some course correction. It is not a healthy sign for the level of disagreements to continue the way we have seen them, particularly the way they were projected in the media. Frankly, it is not the government vs judiciary...frankly, it has to be what area the Parliament's operation is and the area of judiciary's operation. Govt is only a part of the Parliament as a whole. I think we need a dialogue...a dialogue of democracy between the different organs of the government.  

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