Govt rests its case on top law officer
The government indicated on Monday that it would not make any further efforts to persuade solicitor general Gopal Subramanium since he went ahead with his resignation despite requests from the top level of the government.
The government indicated on Monday that it would not make any further efforts to persuade solicitor general Gopal Subramanium since he went ahead with his resignation despite requests from the top level of the government.
“The Prime Minister spoke to him on Saturday and the same evening the law minister asked him not to resign, but he even took the matter to the President on Sunday,” said a top government official.
Law minister M Veerappa Moily hinted that a final decision would be taken in two-three days, since the entire focus at the moment is on Tuesday’s cabinet reshuffle. Moily met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and telecom minister Kapil Sibal during the day. He also spoke to Subramanium, but has not reportedly made any fresh request to him to withdraw his resignation.
“We have taken note of Subramanium going public on the issue, which … in our view is a serious matter. He sent his resignation directly to the PM and the law minister got it only in the morning,” said the official.
The law ministry clarified that it had not replaced Subramanium in the 2G spectrum case. “Rohinton Nariman had been appointed as a special counsel only to respond to the affidavit filed against Sibal and attorney general GE Vahanvati,” Moily said.
The ministry also denied it had expressed unhappiness on the way Subramanium handled the black money and Salwa Judum cases in the Supreme Court. Subramanium declined to comment on the issue. But sources close to him said there was no change in his stand.