New Delhi:
The Supreme Court has delivered a verdict that will impact all cases against public officials, bureaucrats and ministers. Today's verdict provokes new embarrassment for the government because it agrees that Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy had every right to ask the Prime Minister's Office to sanction the prosecution of former Telecom Minister A Raja for corruption charges.
Mr Swamy had gone to court against the Prime Minister's Office which refused to respond for many months to his petition. "The verdict is a slap on the government's face," said the BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Rules dictate that without sanction from a top government authority, a public servant cannot be prosecuted. The Supreme Court has said today that the authority in question has three months within which to decide if permission has been granted. Another month can be taken if the government wants to take the opinion of the attorney general. If there is no response for four months, it can be assumed that proceedings can begin against the government servant in question.
Mr Swamy wanted Mr Raja to stand trial for his alleged role as the mastermind of the telecom or 2G scam, which saw companies getting mobile network licenses and spectrum at throwaway prices. Mr Swamy waited for nearly 16 months for a reply from the Prime Minister's Office, which told him that the evidence against Mr Raja was being scrutinized. Mr Swamy then went to court.
The right to file a complaint against a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act is a constitutional right, said the Supreme Court. Many expect today's order to help speed up action in cases against public servants. At the moment, there are 80 such cases awaiting sanction; 71 of these are corruption cases. Sanction is awaited to prosecute 169 government officers, 141 of them in corruption cases.
Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office V Narayanasamy has insisted that today's judgement is not a setback for the government. The new Lokpal Bill that was passed by the Lok Sabha but got stuck in the Rajya Sabha in December last does away with the need to seek any sanction against a government servant accused of corruption, he pointed out. The Lokpal Bill seeks to create a new ombudsman agency to investigate corruption charges against government servants.
The minister also said that, "As far as a time frame is concerned, we will formulate guidelines accordingly after studying the judgement."
The BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad swiftly hailed today's judgement saying, "A bad case has made a good law. The BJP leader said, "The verdict is a very serious indictment of the functioning of the UPA government, particularly the working of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh...Dr Manmohan Singh will you permit a fair investigation into the role of P Chidambaram or will you continue to insist that he has your full confidence."
The ruling Congress hit back as swiftly. "I am appalled that the opposition (BJP) can react without even reading the judgement," Mr Tiwari said.
Anti-corruption crusader Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, "Supreme Court has vindicated one of our key demands of Jan Lokpal movement. Time bound disposal of corruption cases. (sic)"