Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati asserted on Tuesday that Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy's petition seeking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's sanction for prosecution of the former Communications Minister, A. Raja, in the 2G spectrum case was totally premature and misconceived.
Making this submission before the Supreme Court, the AG, appearing for the Prime Minister, said: “There is no question of consideration of sanction for cognisance when no complaint at all was filed by Dr. Swamy before the competent court. The question of sanction cannot and does not arise. It is settled law that there is no question of sanction merely on the institution of complaint. No prior sanction is required for filing a complaint in the competent court.”
When Justice A.K. Ganguly, who was on a Bench along with Justice G.S. Singhvi, wanted to know from the AG whether a complaint could be filed without obtaining sanction, Mr. Vahanvati said no sanction was required at the stage of filing a complaint. “The request made by the petitioner in his letter on November 29, 2008 was entirely misconceived. The petitioner sought sanction for prosecution even without filing a complaint before the competent court. “The stage of grant of sanction comes only when the court, on being satisfied with the material on record, wants to consider the question of taking cognisance of the complaint after the filing of the charge sheet. There is no question of sanction at the stage of investigation.”