2G case: Subramanian Swamy hails Supreme Court verdict

New Delhi, Jan 31 (ANI): Hailing the Supreme Court's verdict in the 2G case as a victory of the Constitution, Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Tuesday said this would remove a major hurdle in getting government sanction to prosecute.

"It (Supreme Court) has now clarified the issue of sanction, and has now made it simplified. It has now empowered the citizen to go to court to seek an enquiry against any complaint without having the sanction. It has introduced and suggested the introduction of an amendment by which it will be deemed sanctioned if the government delays beyond four months," Swamy told the media here.

Swamy further said that as per the court order, Parliament should bring an amendment, that if a sanction has not given even after four months, then it would be deemed that the sanction has been issued.

He said the government might be given a lease of another month if there was a need to consult the attorney general.

"They have allowed my petition, which means that implicitly anyone who delays, whether it is the Prime Minister or chief minister, or anyone else, it is equally applicable to all of them. But at the moment, I would say that this is only implicit," said Swamy.

He also lashed out at Union Ministers Kapil Sibal and Salman Khurshid for criticising him for approaching the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, in connection to the probe.

"It is absolutely made clear that any private person can approach the Prime Minister and therefore, Sibal and Khurshid need to go back to law college to learn some law who were telling on the television that how dare Swamy approach the Prime Minister directly Please now come and start learning the law again," said Swamy.

The apex court had earlier in the day deliberated on Swamy's petition against the PMO in the 2G case and added that public officials must decide within three months on applications seeking permission to prosecute government authorities.

A special bench of Justices G. S. Singhvi and A. K. Ganguly said there should be a set time frame, and added that all matters of sanction should be decided within three months.

"If consultations are required, then another one month can be taken. If in four months the authority does not give sanction, then it shall be deemed that a sanction has been given," the bench said.

Swamy had moved the apex court in on November 24, 2010 alleging a delay by the PMO to give him sanction to file a case against former telecom minister A Raja, who is accused of being involved in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

The telecom scam, one of India's biggest graft cases ever, may have cost 39.57 billion dollars in expected revenue to the public exchequer as per the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). (ANI)