New Delhi: Justifying government action in
seeking second legal opinion from the Attorney General on Army
Chief General V K Singh`s age row, Information and
Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni on Friday said it was done in
view of fresh material and points coming up on the issue.
"As far as we know, his (AGs) legal advice was sought
again as some new things had come up on the issue and placed
before him.... When an opinion is sought for the second time,
naturally fresh material and points are put forth the Attorney
General. In view of that a second opinion is often sought,
which must have been done," said Soni.
Soni`s justification comes in the wake of the Supreme
Court questioning the government`s action of seeking the
Attorney General`s opinion the second time on the issue. The
Court has deferred the hearing in the case pertaining to the
Army Chief`s age row to February 10.
Soni maintained that the Attorney General is the highest
legal authority to give legal opinion to the government and
appealed to the political class to adopt restraint while
commenting on the issue and not involve the forces in settling
political scores.
"My appeal to political colleagues across the board is
that we all have high esteem for the armed forces without
exception... And, I think at this stage also, we political
people must also bring some restraint on our reaction so that
we don`t involve the armed forces in our political
scuffle...," said Soni.
She said that the armed forces have always played a role
which has been admired, appreciated and held in high regard by
people of this country, even as traditionally, as a matter of
principle, the armed forces have kept themselves totally away
from any kind of political opinion or bias.
PTI
