New Delhi: The UPA government has decided not to pursue its move to appoint a judge to head the commission to probe the alleged snooping over a woman architect by the Gujarat government.
Sources said the decision on appointment of a judge had been left to the next government.
The government’s move to appoint a judge — months after it announced a commission to probe the snoopgate allegations — was staunchly opposed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley had said he doubted any judge would “lend” him/herself to what it alleged was a “political and mala fide exercise”.
Two of the Congress allies in the government — the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the National Conference (NC) — also expressed their strong reservations over the proposal.
NCP leader Praful Patel had said Sunday it was not right to appoint a judge with about 10 days left for the poll results.
NC leader and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also said that if a decision to appoint a commission was taken in December, it should have been implemented and appointing a judge five months later was wrong. Law Minister Kapil Sibal last week said a judge will be appointed before May 16 — the day the Lok Sabha election results will be declared — to head the probe panel.IANS
