The Janata Party President, Dr Subramanian Swamy, on whose plea the Supreme Court framed guidelines to enable prosecution of corrupt public servants in a time-bound manner, termed the order as a "victory for those engaged in the war against corruption".
He said every Indian citizen is now empowered to straight-away approach a criminal court seeking an order to initiate an inquiry against a 'corrupt' public servant.
"The Government cannot anymore block a common man who is fighting corruption by not giving sanction. If a citizen moves the court today seeking initiation of probe, he is asked where are the sanction and such a situation and delays will not happen in the future," Dr Swamy said.
In his plea, Dr Swamy had asked the apex court to direct the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh (who was the sanctioning authority in the matter) to take a decision on his petition seeking sanction to prosecute the then Telecom Minister, Mr A. Raja, in the 2G spectrum case under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Citing the apex court order, Dr Swamy said in such cases the sanctioning authority can consult only the Attorney General, the Solicitor General, or, the Advocate General of the State, and not any other body including the CBI for an opinion regarding whether to grant the sanction.
Dr Swamy said the apex court has ensured that its earlier judgment in the ‘Vineet Narain case’ is still binding on the Government regarding grant of such sanctions.
"I am pleased that democracy is working in India. The Supreme Court has given a great deal of encouragement to those who are fighting against corruption," he said.
He urged the Prime Minister to "atone for his past delays" (in grant of sanction) by issuing an ordinance on amending Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act to avoid delays in grant of sanction.
Dr Swamy said when he sent his plea to the Prime Minister for obtaining sanction to prosecute Mr Raja, the Telecom Minister, Mr Kapil Sibal, and the Law Minister, Mr Salman Khurshid, had questioned how he could approach the Prime Minister.
"Now the apex court has said any Indian citizen can approach the PM. I think Khurshid and the ‘zero loss’ Sibal should go back to law college and study law all over again," Dr Swamy quipped.
Also, the Government cannot "fool people anymore" on corruption cases by "delaying sanction", he said, adding that "Raja-type situations will not happen in the future."