New Delhi, July 13 : Veerappa Moily today assumed charge as India's new Corporate Affairs Minister following a high profile Cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday.
“I am very happy with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi. If they have given me this charge they might had something in mind. They know that I am a reformist and wherever I go, I have the reform agenda,” Moily, who was shifted from the Law Ministry to the Corporate Affairs Ministry, told reporters here.
Speaking on the 2G scam, he said, “You will have to give me time to understand the issue, but I can say that nothing will be passed without proper examination.”
Moily on Tuesday had said he had been a victim of “campaign by vested interests” for his reform agenda and the “fault of administrative ministries” was wrongly sought to be attributed to him.
Showing signs of frustration hours after the reshuffle, he had said he had undertaken a series of reforms in the Law Ministry and schemes worth Rs 21,000 crore were under implementation.
He insisted that he had not been “slighted” and said the new assignment was a challenge for him and he would turn it into an opportunity by carrying out reforms through “fast, inclusive justice” in the corporate world.
“There has been a campaign by the vested interests. They knew reform was not pleasant to everybody, which I can't help. I have to do this in the best interest of the country,” Moily had told reporters.
“All these cases which we fail, it is the fault of the administrative ministry. It has got nothing to do with us. We are only the face in the court,” he said.
He did not specify but was apparently referring to the flak faced by the government from the judiciary in cases like 2G scam, blackmoney and salwa judum.
“For the sins of some other ministries, the Law Minister cannot be hanged,” Moily asserted.
Talking about the reforms carried out by him in the Law Ministry, Moily said he was proud of undertaking these “bold steps which cannot be appreciated by the conservatives.”
He cautioned his successor Salman Khursheed about such happenings with regard to the Law Ministry and expressed confidence that he would be able to carry forward the reforms programme.
“I implemented many things, what I conceived was for the first time in 150 years,” the outgoing Law Minister said and regretted that the media was “playing blind” and expecting “quick results”.
He noted that one crore cases pending in courts would be disposed off by the end of this year for which he has already written to Chief Justices of 21 High Courts.
In reply to a question, Moily had said he was “not upset” at being shifted and he saw the new assignment full of “challenges”.
Disagreeing that he was “slighted”, he said, “I don't consider slighted. Nobody can do so to Moily. It is media creation.” PTI
