SC accepts Swamy plea against PMO, says delays 'unacceptable'

The Supreme Court has accepted 2G petitioner Subramanian Swamy’s plea against the PMO, saying that he had the locus to seek sanction from the Prime Minister for the prosecution of A. Raja in the 2G scam. It also said that sanction for the prosecution of a public servant had to be granted within a time frame of three months, with an additional month allowed if the concerned authority sought the advice of the attorney general. It added that sanction would be deemed to be granted if the competent authority failed to take a decision within four months. [caption id=“attachment_198512” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“A delighted Swamy said the court judgement went further than he expected: CNN IBN screen grab”] [/caption] The apex court also set aside the Delhi High Court judgement which refused to direct the Prime Minister to take a decision on the granting of sanctions against Raja. “The judgement means that now any citizen of India can approach the court and ask for an inquiry into any substantive charge of corruption”, said Swamy speaking to the media soon after the judgement was delivered. “Any private person can approach the PMO, Sibal and Khurshid should learn the law”, he added. This judgement is likely to be very important for the government because this is the first time the Supreme Court has called for records from the PMO wanting to know what the govt of India was really doing on Swamy’s petition application, rather than seeking permission to prosecute former Telecom Minister A Raja. In his petition Dr. Swamy had told the court that he wrote his first letter seeking sanction against A Raja in November 2008. However the PMO had only responded in March 2010 when it had said that the plea was premature because the CBI was investigating the case. “They have gone much further than I thought they would”, said a visibly delighted Swamy. “They have ensured that Raja type situations won’t arise in the future”.