Court can review govt's fiscal policy

The Supreme Court on Thursday held that it could go on to review even the fiscal policy decisions taken by the Union government if they ran contrary to the constitutional principles and public interest.

A bench of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly, which ordered cancellation of 122 licences of 2G spectrum allocated to 11 telecom companies, rejected the contention of the Attorney General that the court should not interfere with the government policy on fiscal matters.

“When it is clearly demonstrated that the policy framed by the state or its agency/instrumentality and/or its implementation is contrary to public interest or is violative of the constitutional principles, it is the duty of the court to exercise its jurisdiction in larger public interest and reject the stock plea of the state that the scope of judicial review should not be exceeded beyond the recognised parameters,” the bench said.

The court said it had to ensure the people entrusted with the task of framing policies did not compromise the institutional integrity.

“When matters like these are brought before the judicialconstituent of the state by public spirited citizens, it becomes the duty of the court to exercise its power in larger public interest and ensure that the institutional integrity is not compromised by those in whom the people have reposed trust and who have taken oath to discharge duties in accordance with the Constitution and the law without fear or favour, affection or ill will and who, as any other citizen, enjoy fundamental rights and, at the same time, are bound to perform the duties enumerated in Article 51A,” it said.

The bench, which ordered cancellation of 122 licences and directed the investigating agencies including the CBI to submit their reports to Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) due to involvement of influential persons, appreciated the efforts of public spirited persons in unearthing the scam.

“We consider it imperative to observe that but for the vigilance of some enlightened citizens who held important constitutional and other positions and discharged their duties in larger public interest and Non Governmental Organisations who have been constantly fighting for clean governance and accountability of the constitutional institutions, unsuspecting citizens and the Nation would never have known how the scarce natural resource spared by Army has been grabbed by those who enjoy money power and who have been able to manipulate the system,” the bench said.

The PIL in the matter was filed jointly by a group of NGOs and some eminent persons like former Chief Election Commissioner J M Lyngdoh, T S Krishnamurthy and N Gopalswamy and former CVC P Shankar.