Legal advisor associated with 2G affidavit suspended

The government today suspended Santokh Singh, a legal advisor in the law ministry who was till recently posted with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and was associated with the controversial affidavit filed by DoT in the Supreme Court.

In the affidavit, DoT had denied the allegations that it ignored the advice of prime minister, finance secretary and Ministry of Law and Justice over allotment of spectrum and said all licences were given “as per law and in keeping with the extant policy and procedures”.

Singh was suspended after a probe was ordered against him to investigate his role in advising DoT on 2G spectrum allocation.

“Since the probe ordered against him is unlikely to be completed before his retirement, he would get provisional pension...He would not retire gracefully,” said a law ministry official.

The affidavit was filed by DoT in response to a PIL filed by Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy seeking sanction for launching prosecution proceedings against Raja and others allegedly involved in the scam.

A few days back, Singh — an Indian Legal Service officer — was transferred back to the law ministry from DoT. The decision to suspend Singh came just two months ahead of his superannuation.

He was with DoT for over four years and advised the department on several important issues relating to 2G spectrum allocation and 3G spectrum auction.