FRONT PAGE | Thursday, October 29, 2009 | Email | Print | 
S-G opinion to Raja valid, say experts
PNS | New Delhi
Union Telecom Minister A Raja wrote in his December 26, 2007, letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that he had been “enlightened” (to go ahead with what eventually turned out to be a raging controversy in the 2G spectrum licence/spectrum allotment) after meeting then Solicitor General Goolam Vahanvati. The question is: Was the then Solicitor General (who now is the Attorney General) right in directly interacting with the Minister on an issue that had not been referred to him through the Law Ministry?
A Ministry of Law and Justice Service Rules notification, called the Law Officer (Conditions of Service) Rules, 1987, is clear that a law officer — which the Solicitor General is by definition — cannot do so.
Rule 8(1)(e) says a law officer shall not “advise any Ministry or Department of Government of India or any statutory organisation or any Public Sector Undertaking unless the proposal or a reference in this regard is received through the Ministry of Law and Justice, Department of Legal Affairs”.
Legal experts The Pioneer spoke to pointed out that rules did not allow a Solicitor General (SG) to discuss with a Minister matters of the Ministry unless the subject had been referred to the SG by the Law Ministry. However, they added that the breach of rules did not in any way invalidate any advice given by the SG.
Senior jurist PP Rao and former Law Minister Shanti Bhushan said provisions of the Rules laid down this restriction and it should be strictly complied with.
Rao said, “The Rules certainly restrict the law officer from giving opinion independently to any Union Minister without routing it through the Law Ministry. But that does not invalidate the opinion given.” About the consequences, Rao added, “The consequences are not contained in the Rules. It is for the Government to question the law officer concerned if it deems appropriate.”
Stating this emphatically, former Law Minister and senior jurist Shanti Bhushan said, “The Rules provide that any opinion should be routed through the Law Ministry. Then the Solicitor General or Attorney General should return the same, stating his service condition.” Though the opinion does not suffer any defect on this account, Bhushan added, “The only thing is he (law officer) can be chastised and punished for violating this rule.”
A source in the Law Ministry said the request for an opinion was generally routed through the Law Ministry. But there are exceptions. “Administrative Ministries, for the sake of convenience, route legal opinions through the Law Ministry. This is to ensure there is no variance of opinion. But if the issue involves a simple point, any Minister can seek an opinion directly from law officers. This opinion need not be in writing; it can also be given orally.”
The point is: Was Raja seeking an opinion directly from the law officer on a ‘simple’ matter? As it turned out, the issue involved an alleged massive scam that the CBI is now probing into.
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