Rapped by SC,PMO welcomes order

Home Minister P Chidambaram welcomed the Supreme Court directive

While the Supreme Court took it to task for not advising the Prime Minister properly to avoid the delay in giving sanction to prosecute former minister A Raja,the Prime Ministers Office clung on to a single charitable remark in the apex courts observation to claim that the court had actually vindicated Manmohan Singh.

We welcome the fact that both the learned judges on the bench have completely vindicated the Prime Minister whilst appreciating the onerous duties of his office. Government is examining their directions regarding the manner in which applications are to be dealt with, a statement from the PMO said.

Ironically,the PMO,and also the Law Ministry,was indicted by the court which,hearing a petition filed by Subramanian Swamy,directed the government to fix a deadline for deciding on granting sanctions for prosecutions in cases of corruption against government officials.

The Prime Minister,individually,was spared though.

The officers in the PMO and the Ministry of Law and Justice were duty bound to apprise the Respondent No 1 Manmohan Singh about the seriousness of allegations made by Swamy and the judgments of this court. By the very nature of the office held by him,the PM is not expected to personally look into the minute details of each and every case placed before him and has to depend on his advisors and other officers, Justice G S Singhvi said in the order.

Unfortunately,those who were expected to give proper advice to Respondent No. 1 Prime Minister and place full facts and legal position before him failed to do so, the order said,adding that We have no doubt that if the respondent No. 1 had been apprised of the true factual and legal position regarding the representation made by the appellant,he would have surely taken appropriate decision and would not have allowed the matter to linger for a period of more than one year.

Meanwhile,Home Minister P Chidambaram welcomed the Supreme Court directive saying the court had explained the legal position in this regard.

I think to the extent the court has explained this legal position and laid down guidelines,it is a welcome decision. All sanctioning authorities will now have to follow the guidelines of the Supreme Court, he said at a press conference.