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Indian police criticised over telecom scam probe

25 November 2010 21:12 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. India’s Supreme Court strongly criticised police on Thursday for failing to question the country’s telecom minister over an alleged scam estimated to have cost the country up to 40 billion dollars, APA reports quoting news.yahoo.com website.
A. Raja resigned earlier this month over the scandal, which has led to public outrage and paralysis in the national parliament, where the opposition has blocked all legislation to press for a cross-party investigation.
In a hearing in the Supreme Court over the case, judge A.K. Ganguly questioned why police had not either questioned Raja, a former lawyer from a regional party, or the chief secretary in his ministry.
Raja oversaw the sale of 2G telecom licences in 2007-2008 at a fraction of their price. He is accused of changing the bidding rules to favour certain companies, many of which were ineligible, according to the national auditor.
"The way it has been done, the rules have been changed arbitrarily," Ganguly said. "The telecom minister and telecom secretary, why have they not been examined?"
Ganguly and a fellow judge hearing the case went on to say that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) appeared to be "beating around the bush."
The government has refused to agree to the opposition demand for a cross-party probe, stressing that the police and state anti-corruption bodies are both looking into what could be India’s biggest ever graft case.
The CBI agreed Thursday to allow the Supreme Court to monitor its probe and said it would file a progress report next Tuesday.
Allowing the Supreme Court to monitor the investigation is seen by some observers as a step that might satisfy opposition demands for an impartial enquiry, while stopping short of their call for parliamentary oversight.
Veteran Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee admitted Thursday that the government did not know how to resolve its stand-off with the opposition, led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The lower and upper houses of the national assembly were adjourned for a 10th day on Thursday as opponents stormed the floor of both houses, shouting slogans and refusing to let anyone speak.
"We have not been able to find a solution. I don’t know how to resolve this impasse," Mukherjee told reporters.
Mukherjee has chaired several fruitless all-party meetings in a bid to bring an end to the crisis.
India’s national assembly has grown increasingly raucous in the past decade, with concern growing that legislation does not receive proper scrutiny amid posturing, shouting and even minor scuffles among lawmakers.
Data collected by PRS Legislative Research, a New Delhi-based think-tank, showed that of the scheduled 170 working hours of the last session of parliament, 100 hours were lost to adjournments, protests and walkouts.
Because so much time is wasted, the final days -- or sometimes hours -- of any session are often spent voting through bills without any genuine debate.
The current winter sessions are set to end on December 13.
The government had intended to pass a new law on the prevention of torture, which needs approval in the upper house, while a key piece of legislation on forced land acquisition for infrastructure projects was also mooted.