'I am not to blame for delay in 2G judgments'

Former Supreme Court judge justice Ashok Kumar Ganguly — who was part of the bench that delivered the 2G spectrum judgments reserved nearly a year earlier — has made it clear that he was not responsible for the delay.

Former Supreme Court judge justice Ashok Kumar Ganguly — who was part of the bench that delivered the 2G spectrum judgments reserved nearly a year earlier — has made it clear that he was not responsible for the delay.

"These two judgments were heard by a bench of justice GS Singhvi and myself, but both the judgments were reserved by my learned senior colleague justice Singhvi," justice Ganguly told Karan Thapar in the CNN-IBN programme, Devil's Advocate.

Justice Ganguly said the judgments — on sanction for prosecution of former telecom minister A Raja and cancellation of 122 telecom licences — would have been delivered long ago "if I had reserved the judgments".

He added the delay must not have been "intentional" but due to the "tremendous pressure" that Supreme Court judges are under, a reference to the SC’s attempt to reduce the list of pending cases.

In course of the interview, the retired judge also made it clear that the court’s recommendation that sanction for prosecution of corrupt public servants would be deemed to have been granted if the competent authority does not take a decision within four months was valid for the judiciary as well.

The judge, who retired soon after delivering the landmark judgment, also explained why the court kept aside the principle of collective responsibility of the cabinet to only indict former telecom minister A Raja and drew the distinction between the Prime Minister and his office.

If you look at the facts properly, you find that the minister concerned didn’t pay heed to the requests made by other ministers, he said.