22 Nov 2002

TEHELKA TWIST: CJI DID IT BUT CONG BLAMES GOVT FOR INFLUENCING PROBE

From Jal Khambata

NEW DELHI: The Congress rocked Parliament with yet another Tehelka bomb on Friday, accusing the Government of trying to influence the Tehelka Inquiry Commission's findings by rewarding its chairman Justice K Venkataswami with a plumed job.

The entire Opposition even staged a walkout in the Rajya Sabha but there were red faces in the Congress by evening when the realisation dawned that Venkataswami had landed in that job of the chairman of the Authority for Advance Rulings for Customs and Central Excise on the recommendation of then Chief Justice of India S P Bharucha.

Then Union Law Minister and now BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley went on record to point out that the Government had not selected Venkataswami and it could do nothing except to accept the recommendation of the single name by Justice Bharucha.

The Government had sought recommendation of the then Chief Justice Dr A S Anand last year to suggest a retired Supreme Court judge for the post while Justice Bharucha who subsequently took over from him recommended Venkataswami's name through a letter on January 14 this year.

All correspondence between the Chief Justice of India and the Government is always treated as secret and confidential and never made public but the Government took the most unusual step of releasing Justice Bharucha's letter No DO CJI/SCI/AAR/Nom/2002 to the Press in a bid to set the controversy to rest. In this letter addressed to the Finance Minister, then Chief Justice Bharucha wrote:

"Dear Minister,

"Please refer to your D.O. letter No. 29/2/2001-Ad.I.C. dated September 27, 2002 addressed to my predecessor requesting him to nominate a retired Judge of the Supreme Court for appointment as the Chairperson of the Authority for Advance Rulings for Customs and Central Excise.

"I nominate Justice K Venkataswami, a retired Judge of the Supreme Court, for appointment as chairperson of the Auhtority for Advance Rulings for Customs and Central Excise.

"I have consulted Justice K Venkataswami and he had agreed to such appointment. The terms of the appointment and other details may be finalised in consultation with him."

In his statement, Arun Jaitley asked the Congress to apologise to Parliament and Justice Venkataswami for spreading "falsehood" on the issue of his appointment. He said: "Congress party owes an apology to Justice Venkataswami and to Parliament for having stated false facts and causing embarrassment to the judge."

Asserting that Congress was trying to "make a mountain when not even a molehill exists", Jaitley said said the centre had at no stage suggested or recommended Justice Venkataswami's name and it had requested Chief Justice of India to nominate a judge and the CJI nominated Venkataswami.

"For Government to overrule the recommendation of the then CJI S P Bharucha may have been inappropriate," Jaitley said, adding the Government merely accepted the nomination proposed by then CJI.

The Congress, however, tried to stick to its gun, stressing that if a judge inquiring into the wrongs of the government is offered jobs, what will happen to the credibility of his findings. Party spokesman Satyavrat Chaturvedi said the government's action was a matter of "impropriety."

In both the House of Parliament, the Congress members asserted that integrity of Justice Venkataswami probing the alleged corruption in defence deals had been compromised six months ago by appointing him to a senior government post. Finance Minister Jaswant, however, pointed out that it was the Chief Justice of India who had cleared the appointment.

While Jaswant Singh claimed in the Rajya Sabha that the appointment was cleared by CJI in May, the letter released subsequently shows that the clearance had come as early as in January. Sources said Justice Venkataswami was appointed in June and is taking over the second assignment while continuing with the Tehelka probe only next month.

The issue was raised in the Rajya Sabha by Kapil Sibal of Congress while the party's Chief Whip Priya Ranjan Das Munshi raised it in the Lok Sabha. Dr Manmohan Singh, leader of Opposition, asserted that it was shocking that "very authority which is investigating the Government is sought to be given a job by the Government." In the Lok Sabha, Congress, Communist and RJD members asserted that the appointment was "highly prejudicial" to the Tehelka probe. END