The 2G scam has put "all other scams to shame" the Supreme Court said on Wednesday, brushing aside Centre's argument that it should not monitor the case and Subramaniam Swamy's letter to the prime minister cannot be treated as a complaint.
A Bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly made some sharp comments while reserving its judgement on Swamy's plea for a direction to the Prime Minister to grant sanction for prosecution of former Telecom Minister A Raja in the scam.
"The prime minister did not take it lightly, obviously he was concerned," the Bench observed when Vahanvati repeatedly asserted that Swamy's plea was only in the form of a letter and cannot be considered as a complaint. "Your written submission never said that the petitioner did not file a proper complaint. We don't need to tell the learned Attorney General the subtle distinction," the Bench quipped.
The Bench pointed out that no such argument was taken in the affidavit filed on behalf of the prime minister. However, the AG stuck to his argument and said that, "I filed the affidavit on the same
facts." But the arguments failed to convince the court.
"According to you it was not a complaint but a letter. Whatever, it is, it was open to the sanctioning authority to say the letter is not in proper form. "In this case if Dr swamy's letter was not in the form of complaint you should have said it. Why shall he a file a complaint at all when the court cannot take notice of the complaint," the Bench asked.
Admitting that it was not there in the written submission, the AG said, "I apologise." "Affidavit filed on behalf of the sanctioning authority (prime minister) also did not say that that it was not a complaint but a letter. Otherwise, you should have filed a one-paragraph affidavit saying that the letter does not merit action as it was not in a proper complaint form," the Bench observed.
The Bench also brushed aside the CBI's plea that the apex Court should refrain from further monitoring the case as the investigation had been taken up by CBI and other agencies. "If you go into the monetary aspect. This scam will put all other scams in the country into shame,"the Bench observed