THE Supreme Court’s decision to take over the charge of investigations into the black money issue is a virtual vote of no-confidence in the government’s capacity and willingness to track unaccounted wealth. Not only that, the apex court has taken the unusual step of appointing a special investigation team under a retired Supreme Court judge, which will report exclusively to the Supreme Court. Ironically, the first time the court had taken such an extreme decision was also in a case of mega-corruption, the notorious 2G scam. The step amounts to the judiciary arrogating the responsibility of the executive but the credibility of the government is at such a low that it may not even be able to oppose the step forcefully.
In good measure, the Supreme Court has also pulled up the Union Government in no uncertain terms for not “showing seriousness” in bringing back black money stashed away abroad. It has condemned the “inertia” of the “soft state” due to which the unholy nexus between law makers, law keepers and law breakers is not being broken. These are extremely harsh words and will come in handy to the critics of the government in slamming it.