Raja showed disrespect to PM by ignoring his advice: SC

The Bench of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly said Raja had not paid heed to the Prime Minister’s letter asking him to wait for some days before taking any action on the allocation of spectrum.

Resuming hearing on the petition by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) on the spectrum scam,the court raised questions on Raja ignoring the Law Ministry’s advice seeking the opinion of the advocate general as “out of context”.

The court made the remarks after noting that the Law Minister had suggested the matter be referred to the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGOM) for seeking the opinion of law officers like the attorney general and solicitor general.

“Raja first received the opinion of the Law Ministry which he overruled by saying it was out of context,then he received a letter from the PM on the same day asking him to wait and let him know the further action taken by Raja. That is also ignored,” the court said.

“The letter of the Law ministry for taking the opinion of AG was ignored. The PM’s letter was ignored. Is this the way the government functions? ” the court asked.

Senior advocate T R Andhyarujina,appearing for Raja,however,contended that the former Telecom Minister never ignored the opinion of the Law Ministry or the advice of the Prime Minister.

The Bench shot back,”The question is what led him to say that the Law Ministry’s opinion was out of context.”

“Nothing could have happened if you would have waited for two-three days after receiving the letter from the Prime Minister,” the Bench snapped.

“First,Raja is saying that the opinion of the Law Ministry is out of context and then not considering the letter of the Prime Minister,” the Bench said.

The Bench said that Raja could have taken the matter before the Cabinet.

The Bench also sought Andhyarujina’s personal opinion on the issue. “Tell us from your experience if a minister can write to the PM saying that an opinion given by the Law Ministry is out of context.”

The Bench said there is no reason to contest the Law Ministry’s suggestion.

“The colleagues in the ministry do not write out of context. We do not have such experience. We have been chief justices of high courts. They work with greater sense of responsibility,” the Bench said.

The Bench also took exception to the letter written by Raja to the Prime Minister.

Andhyarujina,however,sought to impress upon the Bench that the letter had only produced the recommendations of TRAI.

But an unimpressed Bench found fault with Raja’s attitude saying,”Look out at the gloss of the minister.”

At this point,Andhyarujina pleaded that Raja “may be guilty of gloss but not disrespect”.

During hearing,Andhyarujina said Raja has done what was required to be done and there was no question of any disrespect to the Prime Minister.

Earlier,Andhyarujina said he (Raja) only came into the picture in May 2007 and he was continuing with the policy that was being implemented by his predecessors.

“You (only) walked on the footsteps of your predecessors,” the bench remarked,to which Andhyarujina replied,”Yes,I walked on the footsteps of my predecessors.”

47-year-old Raja was forced to resign as Telecom minister on November 14 in the wake of the CAG’s report that the rates at which 2G spectrum was allotted resulted in a loss to the exchequer to the tune of Rs 1.76 lakh crore.