Wisdom at the apex

The imperative that justice must not just be done but seen to be done was clearly evident in Monday8217;s Supreme Court ruling vindicating the Express expose of large-scale irregularities in the allotment of dealerships for petrol pumps, LPG and kerosene outlets under the NDA government. The apex court undertook to appoint its own panel comprising two retired judges to investigate the list of those who had benefitted from such allotments, so that it could arrive at a considered and independent conclusion. This newspaper salutes the fair-minded spirit that had marked this process of inquiry into a case that involved the reputation of not just the notables who had benefitted from the government8217;s largesse, but the government itself. Today, when the BJP expresses moral outrage about the 8220;tainted8221; ministers in the present government, it cannot but be embarrassed by this public reminder of its own 8220;tainted8221; legacy.

It was the unwavering will of the Supreme Court that kept the case on track. For one, the apex court accorded little credibility to the NDA government8217;s own move cancelling all the 3,158 allotments it had made between 2000 and 2002. This was quite obviously meant only as a face-saving gesture in the face of the public outcry that followed the revelations 8212; indeed, it would have served as a cover-up 8212; rather than as a genuine attempt to unearth the serious anomalies that marked the allotments. By quashing the government order, the Supreme Court sent out the unequivocal message that it intended to independently explore the labyrinths of this unseemly patronage racket. Similarly, the Supreme Court did not buy the NDA government8217;s argument that it was the failures of the 60 dealer selection boards it had instituted which had resulted in the mess. The whole business was so shot through with nepotism and the usurping of public resources for private benefit, that it demanded extraordinary scrutiny 8212; as indeed this newspaper had accorded it by sending its investigative teams to various parts of the country in order to systematically track down the beneficiaries and establish the connections between them and those at the nation8217;s helm.

The latest verdict 8212; observing that almost 73 per cent of the allotments in this case were found to be improperly made 8212; is of a piece with another landmark judgment, in another era. In 1996, the Supreme Court, looking into the irregularities and favouritism that marked Satish Sharma8217;s tenure as petroleum minister in the Rao government, had pronounced that the discretionary allotments of pumps and gas outlets was a betrayal of public faith and trust.