In a landmark judgement the Supreme Court of India has set a limit of four months for deciding on sanction for prosecution of corrupt public servants. The SC also slammed the Prime Minister’s Office but gave Manmohan Singh a clean chit for the delay in deciding on the prosecution of then telecom minister A Raja in the 2G spectrum case. Also significant was the ruling which upheld the right of a citizen to seek sanction for prosecution of a public sevant for corruption. At a time when there is a people’s movement growing against corruption by the high and mighty, what the SC has stated in its observation and directive will hopefully help in strengthening the legal and political mechanism needed in the fight against corruption. Coming to the ruling of the SC, there are two points that can be drawn up. Firstly the court observation on the failure of the PMO is an indictment of our government system and those who run the day to day affairs—whether politicians or bureactrats. For instance blaming the PMO for the delay in the decision on Swamy's plea to the PM, seeking sanction to prosecute Raja, it said, "Unfortunately, those who were expected to give proper advice to the Prime Minister and place the full facts and legal position before him failed to do so”.
While the court observation has given Manmohan Singh a clean chit, nevertheless the PM has a lot of explaining to do when it comes to his leadership and use of authority. The PM is the head of the government and if Mr Manmohan Singh was unaware about such an important case involving a senior Cabinet rank Minister, then there must be something wrong with his own leadership quality or his capability to enforce some kind of authority. Mr Manmohan Singh may be a good human being and the country must count itself fortunate to have such a honest person as PM. However the question remains whether he is a strong leader to enforce the authority of a PM. While the SC may have given the benefit of doubt to Manmohan Singh on the case related to A. Raja and instead blamed the PMO, the fact remains that PMO belongs to the PM and he is as much accountable if not more for the acts of commission or ommission from within the PMO.
The second point of the SC ruling relates to the sanction for prosecution of the corrupt. As already mentioned by the Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy, who is in fact credited for filing the petetion in the SC, “This is a victory for the Constitution and the war against corruption. It has empowered the citizen to go directly to the court to seek an inquiry against any act of corruption without seeking a sanction.” The court ruling is indeed a big blow to those who indulge in corruption whether Minister or bureaucrat. Also the Court has laid down that sanction for prosecution would be deemed to have been granted if the competent authority fails to take a decision within a period of four months. This was also what the judiciary had stated in another landmark Vineet Narain case.As mentioned by the court, it is now up to Parliament to take concrete steps to make necessary addition or correction in the Prevention of Corruption Act so that sanction for prosecution is made time bound and also to put right a big wrong which till now shielded the powerful corrupt. As Article 14 clearly states everyone is equal before law and the rule of law must apply without fear or favour. Let justice and fairplay prevail.
