Supreme Court remark not embarrassing: Solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam

Opposition parties may be baying for Manmohan Singh’s blood after the Supreme Court (SC) questioned the prime minister’s (PM’s) 11-month silence on the 2G spectrum scam, but solicitor general (SG) Gopal Subramaniam asserted on Wednesday “it’s [the SC remark] no embarrassment”.

He told DNA the SC observation was casual and not part of a judicial order.

Subramaniam said, “The observations that were part of an SC hearing [on Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy’s petition] on Tuesday were never on record.”

PM had said in response to the plea seeking prosecution of Raja that it’s premature to prosecute anyone when a CBI probe was on.

Asked what action the government contemplated in the matter, Subramaniam said, “We will answer it in the court.”

SC had asked on Tuesday why the sanctioning authority (prime minister) took 11 months to act on a request for permission to prosecute the tainted former telecom minister in the 2G spectrum scam. It referred to a letter to PM by Swamy.