Justice Hegde welcomes SC directive on 2G

MANGALORE: Former Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde welcomed the Supreme Court verdict, which ordered cancellation of 122 licences of 2G spectrum issued to 11 companies in 2008. “I do not consider Supreme Court’s directive as a victory of our fight against corruption.
However, it is indeed a great move as far as our nation is concerned. The directive has exposed completely to what extent corruption prevails in the government,” Justice Hegde noted.“One Union minister was asserting that there was no loss to the exchequer in the 2G spectrum allocation. Now, the SC has proved that his statement is false,” he added. Justice Hegde refused to comment on the recent development of barring former Isro chief G Madhavan Nair and three other eminent space scientists from any re-employment in connection with their alleged role in the allocation of scarce S-band space segment to a private firm Devas.
“The matter does not come under my purview,” he said. On delay in the appointment of Lokayukta in the state, Justice Hegde questioned the government for proposing only one name for the post. “Why they have suggested the name of only one person? It proves that the government wants only that person as the Lokayukta. It will create a wrong impression in people’s mind. Let the government send another proposal with 2-3 names for the post,” he said, referring to government’s proposal of appointing Justice S R Bannurmath as the Lokayukta.