SC accepts Swamy plea; says govt must okay graft cases faster
31 Jan 2012
In what is almost a slap in the face for the union government, the Supreme Court today accepted Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy's petition against the Prime Minister's Office in the 2G spectrum allocation case.
The essence of Swamy's plea was that the PMO took as much as 16 months to sanction the prosecution of former telecom minister Andimuthu Raja, the key accused in the case, far too long.
A bench headed by Justice A K Ganguly said the government should give sanction to prosecute accused officials within three months of application under the Prevention of the Corruption Act.
It further said the sanction would be deemed to be granted if the competent authority failed to take a decision within four months.
However, the court left it for Parliament to frame guidelines for giving sanction to prosecute officials.
The Supreme Court said Swamy had the locus to seek sanction from the prime minister for the prosecution of Raja; and sanction by a competent authority for the prosecution of a public servant has to be granted within a time frame.
