How Kamal Nath, overambitious judge scuppered snoopgate panel

Why did the Congress drop its plan to create a panel to investigate snoopgate? New reports suggest that rather than just opposition from UPA allies, the Congress may have actually faced dissent from within its own ranks to appoint a judge to head a commission looking to the allegations of illegal snooping on a woman against the BJP’s prime minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. Congress minister Kamal Nath is reportedly one of the leaders in the party who had expressed his reservation in appointing a judge to head the commission and said it would serve ’no purpose’, reported the Times of India. Unnamed sources told the newspaper that the minister had said that even if a judge were to be found, the creation of a commission would only create “unnecessary controversy” since it would be closed down by the BJP if it came to power. [caption id=“attachment_1510269” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Shinde reportedly consulted with colleagues before dropping the plan to appoint a judge. PTI[/caption] While the government put up a brave face and said that it would leave the appointment of a judge to head the commission to the next government, a report also indicated that the one retired judge who was willing to head the commission was unacceptable to the government. Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde had reportedly been given a list of judges to pick from but all them, barring one, agreed to head the commission orally but refused to give it in writing, reported the Indian Express. The one judge who did reportedly consent through e-mail reportedly demanded facilities like a bungalow, staff, an official vehicle and office space, which was deemed unnecessary by the government. Following an exchange with colleagues, Shinde then reportedly decided not to appoint any judge to head the commission. A controversy had broken out last week when senior ministers — Kapil Sibal (Law) and Sushilkumar Shinde (Home) — told the media that a judge would be named to head the panel looking into the unauthorised surveillance, before 16 May when the counting of votes in the Lok Sabha elections will be taken up. The announcement came under severe attack from the BJP which slammed the UPA saying it was resorting to vendetta out of desperation of defeat in the elections. BJP questioned the move now saying the original decision of the Cabinet was taken in December and they could not decide on a judge all these days. The party also questioned the need for such a probe when the state government itself had ordered a commission of inquiry into the same subject.