The Supreme Court on 31 January 2012 set aside the Delhi High
Court order refusing to pass any direction to the Prime Minister for taking a
decision on sanction of prosecution in 2G case. The Supreme Court held that filing
of a complaint under the Prevention of Corruption Act is a constitutional right
of a citizen. It said the competent authority should take a decision on giving
the sanction within a time frame. In a case filed by Janata Party Chief
Subramanian Swamy, seeking a direction to the Prime Minister for sanction to
prosecute the then Telecom Minister A Raja, the two judge bench of the Apex
Court held that if the sanction is not given within four months it would deem
to have been granted. The bench comprising justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly
held that Swamy had the locus standi to seek sanction for Raja's prosecution.
The court, however, said, it was not declaring as ultra vires, the provisions
of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The Apex Court had reserved its judgement on 24 November, 2010 on the petition filed by Swamy alleging that there was delay in taking action on his plea seeking sanction to prosecute A. Raja.
The PMO had, however, refuted
all the allegations and filed an affidavit before the apex court maintaining
that the request for sanction for prosecution of Raja was considered by the
Prime Minister and that he was advised that evidence collected by CBI was
necessary before taking a decision. The government said as the CBI probe was
going on, it was necessary to wait for its completion before taking any
decision on granting sanction.
Swamy had approached the Apex Court challenging the Delhi High Court judgement that had refused to pass any direction to the Prime Minister for taking decision on sanction.
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