Even as the former Communications Minister, A. Raja, defended the 2G spectrum allocation policy, the Supreme Court on Thursday felt that the tenor of his reply to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's letters, prima facie, amounted to disrespect.
A Bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly was hearing the petition filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation on the 2G spectrum scam. Justice Ganguly asked senior counsel T.R. Andhyarujina, appearing for Mr. Raja, whether it was proper for Mr. Raja to ignore Dr. Singh's advice and use words like ‘unfair, discriminatory, capricious and arbitrary.' “When you address a letter to the highest executive, the tenor of the language should be temperate.”
Mr. Andhyarujina denied that Mr. Raja showed any disrespect to Dr. Singh: “Maybe, I should not have used that gloss. Whatever I am guilty of wrongdoing, I have not shown any disrespect to the Prime Minister. I have the highest regard for him. I am entitled to say auction is not feasible.”
“It is a question of attitude,” the Judge said.
