Judge has tough task at hand
In little more than 24 hours, a little known judge who went from relative anonymity to a household name will arrive in Delhi to take on the “onerous” task of probing the 2G scam which has riveted the country. Former Supreme Court judge, Justice Shivraj Patil was named by Union telecom minister Kapil Sibal to probe the controversial 2G spectrum scandal. As the Opposition cried foul over the announcement of a one-man probe, even as Parliament was in session, Karnataka couldn’t be prouder at seeing one of its reputed legal experts heading to the nation’s capital to probe the country’s worst scam yet.
The man himself was the epitome of calm. “I am not concerned about the political parties; not the BJP, the Congress nor the UPA. I am concerned with the cause and the task at hand. The parties have already firmed up their own opinions, but I have no opinions. I don’t think I am disturbed by the turn of events,” Justice Patil said, while talking to this newspaper on Friday.
The judge leaves for New Delhi’s Sanchar Bhavan on Monday, where he will hold office for at least another four weeks said the committee will be required to adopt a two pronged approach -— one, to find out if there have been any lapses, secondly, to make recommendations to ensure that similar mistakes aren’t repeated in future.
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NDA rally Dec. 22 on 2G issue
AGE CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi
Dec. 10: With the government rejecting the JPC probe into 2G spectrum issue, the Opposition NDA has planned to take its “fight against corruption” to street by holding a rally here on December 22. Before this it has also planned to stage a “dharna” outside Parliament on Monday.
Informing about the proposed agitation, NDA convenor and JD(U) president Sharad Yadav said, “This is not going to be an exclusive NDA rally. This will be of an entire Opposition. We will organise it in Delhi on December 22. The plan is to take the Opposition’s fight against corruption to the entire country.”
The NDA leader, however, refused to entertain questions on whether the Left will participate in the rally but added, “Effort will be to ensure the entire Opposition agitates on the issue on the same day.”
The NDA is hoping that the agitation would be a rallying point for all Opposition parties on the lines of the July 5 Bharat Bandh against price hike.
“The Left will not participate in the demonstration. We will talk to parties (other than NDA), who would join the agitation,” Mr Yadav said.
Dismissing the government’s decision to appoint a one-man committee of Supreme Court Justice Shivaraj V. Patil (Retd) to probe the alleged irregularities in the allocation of 2G spectrum since 2001, a period involving the NDA regime, the JD(U) president said, “It is useless.” He then went on to add that it was “the feeling” of the entire Opposition.
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