Balakrishnan’s Letter Did Not Name Any Minister: Moily

Law Minister M Veerappa Moily on Thursday said the name of former telecom minister A Raja did not figure in the letter written by the former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan to him in August 2009. “I wrote to the then Chief Justice of India, Justice Balakrishnan. He wrote us back…the name of any minister did not figure in it. That is all. There is no controversy at all. This is a matter of fact,” he said.

Moily was referring to the correspondence between him and Balakrishnan after a group of MPs had submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh alleging Raja had attempted to influence a Madras High Court judge to get bail for his family friends. “No, I am sorry, he has not taken any name, or my name. There is nothing wrong,” he said, adding that when the issue of the memorandum was referred to the Law Ministry, he had written to Balakrishnan to seek his response. In a statement issued on Wednesday, Balakrishnan – who now heads the NHRC – had said that the then Chief Justice of Madras high court H L Gokahle had not mentioned the name of any minister in his report on the alleged incident.

He had also said that he had brought the facts to the notice of the law minister. “All these matters were brought to the notice of the Union Law Minister on August 18, 2009 in response to his letter to me drawing reference to the memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister by the MPs of different political parties…” Moily had yesterday agreed that communication had taken place between him and Balakrishnan but said he would not like to make an immediate statement which is “half-baked”.

-HT