2G scam: SC asks for affidavit on delay in action; Parliament stalled

The 2G Spectrum scam spelt more embarrassment for the Central government on Thursday as the Supreme Court (SC) sought an affidavit on behalf of the Prime Minister for his inordinate delay in acting against the scam while Opposition stalled proceedings in the Parliament over the scam.

Also, allegations of no response from the PMO to his repeated letters seeking sanction to prosecute former Telecom minister A Raja in the scam continued from Janata Dal leader Subramanium Swamy.

The SC on Thursday asked for the filing of an affidavit on behalf of the Prime Minister on his delay in acting against the 2G Spectrum Scam.

“The matter is extremely serious. We must know what has been kept back,” the court said after Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium replied on why there was delay in sanctioning prosecution of former telecom minister A Raja.

On Tuesday, the court had asked the government to explain why the PM took 11 months to respond to a request by former Law Minister Subramaniam Swamy that asked for Raja to be prosecuted for the 2G scam.

Swamy said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had never written back to his requests for sanctioning prosecution of Raja on the 2G scam and instead forwarded the request letter to the tainted minister against whom action was sought.

Swamy said since November 29, 2008, he had written five times to the Prime Minister ?each time with additional documents?, but got no reply.

He said the only reply came from A Raja himself to whom the PM had forwarded his letter for prosecution.

?Mr Raja wrote me a letter,? he said, adding that it was following a letter that the PM forwarded to him [Raja] .

Swamy said he received Raja?s letter in December 2009.

?Under the Supreme Court judgement it is totally illegal,? said Swamy, ?since the PM cannot send the letter back to the person who is to be prosecuted.?

Meanwhile, both Houses of Parliament were adjourned on Thursday after the Opposition created an uproar over the 2G spectrum allocation scam and demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the scandal.

Three minutes after the Rajya Sabha assembled, it was adjourned for the day, while the Lok Sabha was dissolved till noon, one minute after the proceedings started.

Telecom Minister A Raja last Sunday resigned while a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the huge losses to the exchequer (Rs 1.76 lakh crore) was tabled in Parliament.