Got anonymous letter saying court being managed: Bench

A recent CAG report pegs the revenue loss caused by the allocation of spectrum.

Justice A K Ganguly,one of the two judges on the Supreme Court Bench hearing the 2G spectrum allocation case,on Wednesday disclosed in open court that he received an anonymous letter alleging the court is being managed.

A letter has come to me. Allegations in the anonymous letter are that we are being managed, said Justice Ganguly,who had raised questions from the Bench on the governments conduct in continuing with A Raja as the telecom minister despite a year-old CBI investigation into his alleged role in auctioning 2G spectrum at throwaway prices to private companies.

A recent CAG report pegs the revenue loss caused by the allocation of spectrum in 2007 at 2001 prices to be Rs 1.76 lakh crore.

The Bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly is currently deciding on whether the CBI is dragging its feet in the probe,and if the apex court should directly monitor the investigation or even set up a Special Investigation Team.

In fact,the court opened up about the existence of the letter when several of the lawyers in the case complained about the distorted news reports appearing on the court proceedings,which they said were affecting their professional reputations. To this,Justice Singhvi remarked that it was also sailing in the same boat,even as Justice Ganguly went on to explain about the letter and its circumstances.

The judge said he received the letter on his dak and had thrown the letter into the dustbin,only to see it surface again on the official court records of the spectrum case. The same letter becomes part of the record of this court. It has been put on record by this Supreme Court Registry. Our own officers put it in the Office Report and now we cannot ask them to return it. It will only recoil on us, Justice Ganguly said,passing on his personal court file to some of the senior lawyers sitting at the front row in the courtroom.

With great anguish we are hearing this case. We are carrying this wound in our hearts, he spoke for the Bench. While senior advocate K K Venugopal,appearing for the CBI,noted that the letter was indeed signed,lawyers participating in the spectrum litigation rallied around the judge in a bid to lift the Benchs spirit. All sorts of persons write all sorts of scandalous records,My Lords should put it in the dustbin, senior advocate T R Andhiyaarjuna offered. Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium reassured that Your Lordships are entitled to questions. We government face no embarrassment. There is no place for letters like these in our system.

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Advocate Prashant Bhushan,who appears for the NGO CPIL which had filed the petition seeking transfer of the case from CBI,pointed out that sometimes such letters are dangerous and are intended to get cases off a Bench.

That is the thought which came to our minds. At 63 plus and after 40 years of service,we do not want to disturb our peace and that is why we did not say anything about this letter till now. We are also human beings, Justice G S Singhvi,the lead judge on the Bench,said.