After Former Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam withdrew his candidature for appointment as Supreme Court judge saying that he was “let down” by the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre over lack of support, the BJP on Wednesday rubbished the charges made by him.
The BJP said that there is no structure to the allegations being made by Subramaniam and added that, “The decision was taken by keeping only the merits in mind.” Subramanian in a letter to Chief Justice of India wrote, “I’m fully conscious that my independence as a lawyer is causing apprehensions that I will not toe the government line. This factor has been decisive in refusing to appoint me.”
The former Solicitor General further alleged that there was a malicious campaign out to defame him and that all charges against him are untrue adding that he was cleared by all agencies on May 15. Subaramanium also said that he has been let down by the judiciary as no one raised a voice against the government.
According to sources, the senior lawyer withdrew his candidature in view of media reports which said the BJP-led NDA government is opposed to his appointment as a Supreme Court judge because of his ‘links’ with corporate lobbyist Nira Radia and a ‘negative’ CBI report.
Meanwhile, the Congress hit out at the ruling BJP’s abuse of institution is alarming. Congress leader Anand Sharma said, “Subramaniam was one of the finest lawyers of his time and is respected globally, I can only say this is most unfortunate.”
Those cleared were Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Arun Mishra, Orissa High Court Chief Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and senior advocate Rohinton Nariman. The warrants of appointments in these cases are likely to be issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan shortly, the sources said.
It is being learnt that the government have sent a note to the collegium giving out reasons for its reservations over appointing Subramanium to the apex court.
