[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]he Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear on November 28 a plea of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy seeking a direction to Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to frame detailed guidelines and “fool-proof policy” for grant of security clearances.
…SUN TV Group went to many High Courts and from some High Courts got favorable judgments. I&B Ministry never challenged these judgments, citing the Home Ministry’s objections.
In his petition Swamy questioned the favoritism by certain officials to Maran brothers’ SUN TV and illegalities by Information and Broadcasting Ministry in ignoring the Home Ministry’s objections. Home Ministry had objected in giving security clearance to SUN TV Group in participating in FM Radio auction citing the Enforcement Directorate and CBI cases against the main promoter Kalanidhi Maran in Aircel-Maxis scam. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) under Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had attached Rs.750 crore worth properties of SUN TV group after the promoters were charge sheeted for bribing in Aircel-Maxis scam.
But in a clear case of conflict, the then I&B Minister Arun Jaitley wrote a series of letters to Home Minister Rajnath Singh for not granting security clearance to SUN TV Group, which was booked by the ED, which is also under Arun Jaitley as the Finance Minister. Meanwhile, SUN TV Group went to many High Courts and from some High Courts got favorable judgments. I&B Ministry never challenged these judgments, citing the Home Ministry’s objections.
A bench comprising Chief Justice T S Thakur and justices D Y Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao agreed to hear the plea in which Swamy said both the Delhi High Court and Bombay High Court recently took divergent views on the matter of security clearances while dealing with e-auction process of private FM radio channels.
“The matters related to the national security of the country are specifically been delegated by the President of India to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and not to any other department or body of the Union.
“That means any decision by the Home Ministry on the subject of the national security cannot be questioned by any other ministry or persons. The matter of national security being a specialized job and therefore is an exclusive domain of MHA,” said Swamy’s petition.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]S[/dropcap]wamy said: “The petitioner herein was alarmed that some of the 2G accused were being permitted on a doubtful and contrived security clearance to participate in the e-auction process of private FM radio channels (phase III) and airwaves held by the central government.”
The plea alleged that “inadequacy” and “non-uniformity” in security clearance policy of the government has created this problem where a “tainted person or a company” can be part of a process which can have serious impact on the national security of the country.
Swamy in his plea said that in particular, Sun Group is controlled by Kalanidhi Maran and former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran and both of them are accused in Aircel-Maxis scam case.
“The control of the radio and airwaves as well as electronic media by the central government is an extremely important aspect of national security and this court has time and again emphasized that the national security cannot be compromised,” he claimed.
“The inadequate security clearance policy of government and the two judgments of Delhi and Bombay high courts can be used as a ground to bypass the mandatory security clearance process by the companies and this could become a potent threat to the national security of the country,” the BJP leader’s plea said.
The plea alleged that “inadequacy” and “non-uniformity” in security clearance policy of the government has created this problem where a “tainted person or a company” can be part of a process which can have serious impact on the national security of the country.
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