NEW DELHI: While Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao has stated that his government would not interfere in the Bofors investigation, subtle attempts are on to give the case a judicial burial.
This became clear on Tuesday when the Bofors case hearing in the Supreme Court was adjourned to July 25 on a flimsy ground despite a threat by the Swiss government that it may not be able to help Indian investigators if the Supreme Court does not give its verdict by the end of August.
The hearing was adjourned by a division bench comprising Mr Justice S.R.Pandian and Mr Justice KJ Reddy on a request by Mr K.C. Bhagat, senior counsel for Mr H.S. Choudhary, a petitioner who had sought quashing of FIR in the Bofors gun deal case. Mr Bhagat pleaded that he was ‘caught unawares’ as the case was not on the courts weekly list. He further pleaded that he was unable to argue the case and, therefore, it be adjourned for three weeks. He went to say that he had some personal work because of which it was not possible for him to attend the hearing for the next two weeks.
According to court sources, however, Bofors was never mentioned in the regular list of cases. Instead, it was entered in the miscellaneous list which was circulated simultaneously with the regular weekly list.
Surprisingly, no senior government counsel was present in the court to oppose the adjustment. A junior counsel of the Union government was present, but she made no attempt to oppose it.
It was counsel for Janata Dal, Mr Prashant Bhushan, who put up a strong opposition to the adjournment plea, pointing out that the reasons given for sacking adjustment were very weak. Mr Bhushan argued that there was added urgency for hearing the case in view of the Swiss threat. Moreover, Mr Bhushan pleaded, since the case was part heard, it was known that it would be taken up immediately after the vacations, The candidates or the counsel for the Janata Dal were, however, of no avail as the judges seemed determined to adjourn the case, When the Swiss communication was pointed out to the judge to impress the urgency of the matter, Justice Reddy said they could not be told by the Swiss as to when they should deliver the judgment No response came from the judges on the repeated queries of the counsel as to why the case was being adjourned, “Please do not embarrass us”, said one of the judges on being repeatedly asked this question.
While Justice Reddy, virtually postponed the suggestion about the Swiss threat, Justice Pandian made the remark that the Indian government could also write to the Swiss authorities for seeking extension of time limit.
The adjournment of the case, according to legal circles, has sent signals that the beneficiaries of the Bofors, payoffs are continuing to demonstrate their impressive clout in high places, including the judiciary of both India and Switzerland.
It may be recalled that the Jurich court has already upheld the CBI request for sup- plying to it details about the secret bank accounts in which the Bofors payoffs were transferred. The CBI even succeeded in getting certain sets of bank accounts. It was only in Geneva that the matter could not be heard fully.
Before the Geneva Federal Court could take any decision, however, the V.P. Singh government tells and forces opposed to investigation.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 19, 1991
