Saving Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from further embarrassment, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said that Singh had no intention to block permission to Janata Party chief Subramanium Swamy to prosecute former Telecom minister A Raja in the 2G Spectrum scam.
In a major breather for Singh, a bench of Justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly, taking up the prime minister?s affidavit on charges of inaction on Swamy?s petition seeking sanction to prosecute Raja, observed that the prime minister had not intended to block the sanction.
Defending the prime minister before the SC, Attorney General GE Vahanvati submitted that Swamy?s petition to the prime minister was misconceived in law.
?There is no question of consideration of sanction when no complaint was filed at all. It is settled law that there is no question of sanction merely on the institution of the compliant,” Vahanvati argued.
?Till date, the petitioner (Swamy) has not even filed a complaint in the competent court and in such circumstances, the question of sanction cannot and does not arise,” he contended.
He said the stage for grant of sanction is when the court wants to consider the question of whether to take cognisance of a complaint.
Vahanvati said there is no question of taking cognisance in absence of a complaint before a court and unless the court has applied its judicial mind to the complaint.
The government, on behalf of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court on the 2G Spectrum scam on Saturday, arguing that there was no inaction on the PM’s part regarding sanctioning prosecution of former Telecom minister A Raja.
Refuting charges of delay in sanction of prosecution of Raja, the Prime Minister?s Office (PMO) in an 11-page affidavit claimed that action was duly taken on every letter received from former Union minister Swamy seeking permission to act against Raja.