The Centre said on Friday that for effective representation, Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati would replace Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam to appear for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the case filed by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy in the Supreme Court over the 2G spectrum scam.
The court will take up the case again on Tuesday. It will hear on Monday the petition filed by advocate Prashant Bhushan to examine the Comptroller and Auditor-General's report on the spectrum allocation.
On November 16, a Bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly questioned Mr. Gopal Subramaniam over “the Prime Minister's alleged inaction and silence for 16 months” on Dr. Swamy's petition seeking sanction to prosecute A. Raja, who resigned as Communications Minister a few days ago.
On Thursday, the court observed that it was a serious matter and wanted an affidavit filed on behalf of the Prime Minister by Saturday. Though the Solicitor-General said he would make his submissions on the basis of records, the court said it would be better an affidavit was filed.
Stung by the court observations, the government entrusted the country's top law officer with the task of defending the Prime Minister.
Talking to journalists, Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily said: “There is no change in government representation. The Solicitor-General will represent the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), while Additional Solicitor-General Haren Raval will represent the CBI as they are separate entities.”
Mr. Moily said the Prime Minister was not given notice earlier. “Now with the Supreme Court asking an affidavit to be filed on behalf of the Prime Minister, it is a different case. Now we are making it a pucca case.”
