The Supreme Court, in its school masterly best, asked the former Telecom minister A.Raja of the Rs.1.76 lac crore 2G spectrum scam to explain his various acts of commission and omission while deciding not to auction Unified Access System licences and 2G spectrum but to allocate them on first come, first served basis, that too with some very original alterations. The court also admonished Raja not only for not listening to the Law ministry but also for ignoring the advice of the prime minister in the matter. Raja's counsel tried to justify his client's actions but the court did not buy it.
I do not hold any brief for Raja, in fact it is high time that he had to pay for his wrongdoings which denied the public exchequer huge revenues, but rather than asking Raja why he ignored the prime minister's advice, should the court not be asking the prime minister if his responsibility ended at advising Raja. Should he not have pursued it with him and at recalcitrance on Raja's part, should he not have sought his resignation or dismissed him in January/February 2008 and cancelled all licences and spectrum allocations made by him? These are inconvenient questions, no doubt, but if the Supreme Court won't ask them, who would? The nation is owed answers to these questions.
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