India's Supreme Court warns corruption a 'grave danger'

India's Supreme Court warned on Tuesday that corruption posed a "grave danger" to the world's largest democracy, which has been rocked by a series of high-profile graft scandals. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Congress-led administration has taken a battering with a succession of embarrassing multi-billion-dollar corruption scams involving some top government officials.
"Today, corruption in our country not only poses a grave danger to the concept of constitutional governance, it also threatens the very foundation of Indian democracy and the rule of law," Justice A.K. Ganguly said. Ganguly made the damning assessment while delivering a ruling in connection with the alleged underpriced selling of telecom licences, which the national auditor says may have cost the country up to $39 billion.
"The magnitude of corruption in our public life is incompatible with the concept of a socialist, secular and democratic republic," Ganguly said. "Corruption devalues human rights, chokes development and undermines justice, liberty, equality, fraternity, which are the core values," he said.
Ganguly said in the ruling that under the constitution the government must decide within a set timeframe whether a public official can be prosecuted for corruption. If a decision is not made within four months, permission for prosecution of the public servant will be deemed to have been granted, the judge said.
The ruling came in response to a petition filed by opposition Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy that accused the government of dragging its heels in deciding to prosecute former telecom minister D. Raja. Raja is one of 14 people accused in the massive telecom scandal. Swamy called the ruling a "victory for the war against corruption."
India's government faced fierce criticism in the media and from the opposition in December after it failed to push through its flagship anti-corruption law in the upper house of parliament. The future of the bill is now uncertain, but it will most likely be revised and again presented to lawmakers this year.