Worst-kept secret

The story of Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium’s resignation is growing more curious by the day. It now transpires that he had had a meeting with HRD Minister Kapil Sibal a day before he was to appear in court to defend the minister in a PIL in the 2G spectrum case and told him it might be better if a lawyer from the panel defended Sibal. It is the government’s worst kept secret that Subramanium and Attorney General G Vahanavati have been sparring since their appointment in 2009. Sibal said he had no objection and together they chose Rohinton Nariman (who didn’t have to do much because the court itself questioned the relation of the PIL with the 2G case). The next thing Sibal heard was that Subramanium had resigned. A group of lawyers, mostly Subramanium’s friends, believe he was the victim of officialdom, having come laterally into the government with first-class educational credentials. But, there is more to it than that.