"We will respond to black money order after reading it"

The United Progressive Alliance government on Monday maintained that it would respond to the Supreme Court's order on black money only after studying it.

Asked to comment, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the government would first read the order suggesting that a special investigation team be set up to handle such cases, before deciding on a course of action.

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram told journalists that Mr. Mukherjee would respond to the order, but only after studying it. If not Mr. Mukherjee, “anyone of us [Cabinet Ministers]” would state the government's view.

He did not consider it proper to offer an off-the-cuff remark without reading the ruling. But, “the order is final because it is the final court. Let us first read the order.”

Mr. Chidambaram also pointed to the difference between the court's ruling and its observations made outside of the text of the order. The government would receive only the order, he said, and would respond only to the contained text; it was not supposed to respond to the observations made by the judges.