New Delhi, October 8
Exuding confidence that the proposal to open up the legal sector to foreign law firms will benefit young lawyers, Law Minister M Veerappa Moily today defended the CBI’s decision to withdraw the case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in the alleged Bofors payoff.

Covering a wide-range of issues in an inter-action with the media, Moily refused to specify whether Karnataka High Court Chief Justice PD Dinakaran would be elevated to the Supreme Court despite allegations of amassing huge wealth.

Constitutional authorities responsible for the appointment of judges would not go by “perceptions, impressions and controversies” but by “hard facts and evidences.” Queried further, he said none of the constitutional authorities was “bankrupt of ideas” on how to deal with such situations and that nobody could “hinder or obstruct” the process.

Asked about throwing open the legal sector, he said he had discussed the issue with several delegations of young lawyers who were enthusiastic over the move as they felt that they stood to benefit the same way the country’s IT professionals did. Why anyone should doubt the competence of the country’s lawyers and deny them the opportunity to go global, he wondered.

However, the final decision on the issue would be arrived at in consultation with the Bar Council of India and other stakeholders.

There was a move to set up four law colleges of excellence, one each in every region, on the lines of National Law School, Bangalore, whose students were the most sought after by leading law firms, national and international.

The government decided to withdraw the case against Quattrocchi in a Delhi trial court as it could not succeed in the courts of Malaysia and Argentina to get him extradited. Asked why the move had come 20 years after the registration of the case, the minister counter-questioned the reporter: “Do you want to have silver and golden jubilees” of the case?

He refused to comment on the apex court’s appeal in the Delhi High Court on the issue whether the office of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) fell within the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, stating that the matter was sub judice.

On Section 377 relating to sex among consenting same-sex adults, he said the Cabinet had taken a decision to assist the apex court in deciding the case.

Asked about UPA ministers travelling by business class on flights despite booking tickets in economy class, he said he travelled economy class and had not engaged CIDs to spy on his Cabinet colleagues.

A new, comprehensive Judges’ Inquiry Bill was almost ready and would be put up for Cabinet approval shortly, Moily said.

To a question on the absence of reservation in the higher judiciary, he said the SC collegium was making all efforts to provide for adequate representation to all sections of society and to all regions.