JOIN USJanata Party chief Subramanian Swamy and eminent lawyer Prashant Bhushan on Thursday hailed the Supreme Court’s verdict, saying the order to cancel the 122 licences for 2G operations has brought out a “big scam” committed during the UPA government’s regime.
“It is the best possible judgment that could be possible for the three judges. The country can be justifiably proud of the Supreme Court,” Swamy, who is also one of the petitioners in the case, said here after the judgment.
The irregularity committed in the allocation of licences was a “collective failure” of the UPA government as it “overlooked” the warnings given by the national auditor and Central Vigilance Commission on the issue, he charged.
It was a “collective failure” of the government that the 2G licences were issued in an “illegal and corrupt” manner and nobody felt that the Cabinet should be called and the licences scrapped, Swamy added.
At the same time, Swamy expressed his happiness over the court’s observation that the trial court was perfectly competent to decide on the matter whether Home Minister P Chidambaram should be proceeded in the matter or not.
“It is being made clear that the trial court is fully seized of the matter. Now, the CBI could not add anything by way of an investigation,” Swamy underlined.
Bhushan, who is a counsel for a co-petitioner in the 2G allocation case, described the Supreme Court’s verdict as “historic” and said it will send a strong message to the “corrupt” public officials and, particularly, corporate houses who retain the benefits of illegal acts.
He said the verdict will not only help the public exchequer to recover losses caused by the then telecom minister A Raja in January 2008 and thereafter, but also change the way the corruption is dealt with. Corporate houses, involved in the case, will have to refund the benefits that they had got out of the illegal licences, the eminent lawyer said after the verdict.