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NATION,
SOLI SORABJEE
Case for Defence
The
country's highest law officer comes under a cloud as the Congress joins
issue with Jethmalani in accusing him of "gross impropriety"
By
Ashok Damodaran
Conventional
wisdom would have it that with Ram Jethmalani out of the Law Ministry,
Soli Sorabjee's stint as attorney-general of India (A-G) would see no
further hitches. The reality is different. More than a fortnight since
Atal Bihari Vajpayee gave Jethmalani the marching orders after the minister
got into a public spat with the a-g, the controversy shows no signs of
ebbing. The focus though has shifted
Typically,
the Congress once again lived up to its recent reputation of performing
stunning flip-flops. It first asked for the prosecution of Jethmalani,
an old foe of both the party and the Gandhi family for violating the Official
Secrets Act; later, realising that he had gifted it enough ammunition
to blast the ruling coalition, the party suddenly decided that the bad
guys were still in the Government after all. So it trained its firepower
on the treasury benches, demanding a joint House committee to probe the
events that led to Jethmalani's exit. In the process it also accused Sorabjee
of indulging in "unethical practices". Specifically, the Opposition
wanted the Government to clarify whether there was substance in the three
charges Jethmalani made against the a-g. These were:
that Sorabjee
had given legal advice to the Hindujas -- who are being probed in connection
with the Bofors case -- regarding a power project in Andhra Pradesh;
that he
gave advice on a matter regarding the Telecom Ministry which led to a
revenue loss of Rs 4,000 crore;
that it
was on his advice that the Government transferred the corruption cases
against former Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalitha from the special
courts to regular courts, a move subsequently struck down by the Supreme
Court.
For much
of last week, normal parliamentary business was derailed, particularly
in the Rajya Sabha which has no dearth of legal luminaries: the former
minister, his successor Arun Jaitley from the BJP and Kapil Sibal and
N.K.P. Salve from the Congress, to name a few. The Opposition contended
that by giving "opinion" to a party that was listed as an accused
in the Rs 64-crore howitzer scam, the primary law officer of the government
of India had committed a "grave impropriety". Amidst demands
that the a-g be called to the House for an explanation, S. Jaipal Reddy,
the former anti-Congress crusader who is now a Congress MP from Andhra
Pradesh, even accused the prime minister of complicity. "I say it
with full authority and responsibility. The decision to give permission
was taken under pressure from the Prime Minister's Office."
These charges
have not elicited any ripostes from the Government so far, though if the
Opposition, as is expected to, presses the issue next week, it will have
to tone up its defence. Though Jethmalani levelled three charges against
the a-g, the focus of the Opposition's imminent attack is expected to
centre on the Hinduja case where even the prime minister's name is being
dragged in. Official sources cite precedents to show that law officers
can take permission to offer advice to private parties.
According
to official circles, Sorabjee approached the Government for permission
in this specific case after he was informed by advocates representing
the Hindujas "that the Government of India was anxious for an opinion
about the counter-guarantee" for their project in Andhra Pradesh.
The a-g wrote to the then law minister P.R. Kumaramangalam "wanting
to know if the Government is agreeable to me giving an opinion in the
matter". Permission was duly granted.
But the
official line is rubbished by the Opposition, not to speak of leading
lawyers. "It is mysterious that the attorney-general should come
to know about the government's anxiety from a lawyer representing the
Hindujas," said an opposition leader. Sibal is more forthright: "I
don't generally agree with many of the things that Ram Jethmalani says
or does. But he has a point here. Somebody was trying to help someone
else." The point is: who?
In his long
stint at the bar, not even his worst detractors have questioned Sorabjee's
legal credentials or his integrity, which is impeccable. The a-g will
be in London when Parliament resumes this week and the Opposition assembles
with knives out. The irony will not be lost on those even with short memories.
As attorney-general in the V.P. Singh government, Sorabjee was assisted
by two young additional solicitors-general when he filed the fir in the
Bofors case. One of them, Arun Jaitley, as law minister now, will have
to defend the a-g for his Hinduja indiscretion. The other, Kapil Sibal,
a member of a party which normally squirms at the mere mention of the
Hindujas, will be playing the role of prosecutor.
-with Lakshmi Iyer
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