NEW DELHI: In one of his orders as Indian President R. Venkataraman refused permission to prosecute Arjun Singh for his alleged involvement in Churhat lottery case. The permission was sought by Madhya Pradeshs industry minister Kailash Joshi. The Presidents order was issued on July 24 a day prior to Shankar Dayal Sharma asking over. Joshi later said he would file a fresh petition to new President Sharma. Arjun Singh is a minister in the central Indian government. He is said to be a dissident and does not see eye to eye with Rao. President Venkataraman turned unhappy towards the end of his tenure because he was angling for an extension it is said. Venkataraman took the unusual step of refusing permission to prosecute Arjun Singh when he had stopped taking major decisions on the ground that his successor would be an appropriate authority to take all the decisions. For instance he had refused to nominate certain persons to the Rajya Sabha.
Article extracted from this publication >> Aug 28, 1992
