Court rejects Raja’s contention in 2G case
A Delhi court on Saturday rejected the contention of former Telecom Minister A Raja that he followed a policy which resulted in huge investment in the sector, saying that the rule of law and Constitution cannot be violated for any purpose.
Special Judge O P Saini who framed charges against 17 accused including Raja in the 2G scam case, said “The investment has to be as per the law of the country and in this process laws cannot be flouted by subverting the norms and resorting to payment or acceptance of bribes.”
“The supremacy of the Constitution and the rule of law has to be maintained and the same cannot be allowed to be compromised in the garb of fresh investment. Affordability of mobile phones does not mean that the public servant would start subverting the law and filling up their own pockets by taking bribes,” the court said.
“One cannot claim to achieve the objectives of a policy, however laudable the same may be, in an illegal manner. The same is the case for seeking private investment, domestic as well as foreign.
For seeking investment for the implementation of the policy of the government or during such investment by private players, one cannot be allowed to violate the constitutional and statutory norms,” it said.
Other pleas discarded
In a detailed order passed on framing of charges, the court also discarded the plea of Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi that the Central Bureau of Investigation had failed to seek mandatory sanction under Section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) before filing chargesheet against them.
“I find myself in agreement with the special public prosecutor (U U Lalit) that there are no allegations in the charge sheet that either of the two accused (Raja and Kanimozhi) misused or abused the office of Member of Parliament.
The allegations against Raja are that he misused/abused the office of Minister of Communication and Information Technology, government of India, in granting UAS (unified access services) licences and allocation of spectrum.”
“Similarly, there are no allegations against Kanimozhi that she misused the office of Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha,” Saini said.
