Former Telecom Minister A.Raja, prime accused in the 2G case, was on Wednesday criticised by the Supreme Court for using “intemperate” and “objectionable” language in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue of spectrum allocation policy.
The apex court was anguished over the tone and tenor of Raja’s letter to the Prime Minister wherein words like “unfair, discriminatory, capricious and arbitrary” were used.
“The decorum required that the language must be polite and temperate,” a bench comprising Justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly said, adding that “it amounted to showing disrespect to the highest political authority of the country.”
The court was hearing petitions seeking cancellation of spectrum allocated during the tenure of Raja as telecom minister.
The bench was referring to the letter written by Mr. Raja on December 26, 2007 in which he “bypassed” and “overruled” the Prime Minister’s advice to defer the allocation of 2G spectrum by a few days.
“The expressions in the letter are very objectionable,” the bench said, noting, “Even when you are writing to someone senior in age you have to be respectful.
Unless you have learned a different language.”
The bench asked, “Is the minister (Raja) saying that the Prime Minister’s suggestions are arbitrary, unfair and capricious”.
The bench said, “It is expected that the language used in the letter should be a little more dignified while addressing the Prime Minister. The use of adjectives like this should be avoided.
“The language in the letter (by Raja) is a matter of concern. It is not addressed to any ordinary person but a person senior who is a Prime Minister,” the bench said, adding that he was responding to a “decision of the Prime Minister.”
During a previous hearing, the same bench had said Mr. Raja had not paid heed to the Prime Minister’s letter asking him to wait for some days before taking any action on the allocation of spectrum.
The court had raised questions on Mr. Raja ignoring the law ministry’s advice seeking opinion of the AG as “out of context”.
The court had made the remarks after noting that the law minister had given an opinion that the matter be referred to the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGOM) for seeking the opinion of the law officers like the Attorney General and the Solicitor General.
“Raja first received opinion of the law ministry which he overruled by saying it was out of context, then he received a letter of the Prime Minister on the same day asking him to wait. The Prime Minister had sought to know further action taken by him (Raja). That was also ignored,” the court had said.
