SC appoints special prosecutors for money laundering cases in coal scam

A three-judge bench passed the order on April 12 on a plea by senior advocate R S Cheema to relieve him of the charge to represent the ED

The Supreme Court has appointed former Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh, and advocate Rajesh Batra, as Special Public Prosecutors to argue for the Enforcement Directorate in the Coal block allocation scam cases.

A three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice S A Bobde, and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian passed the order on April 12 on a plea by senior advocate R S Cheema to relieve him of the charge to represent the Enforcement Directorate.

The ED filed an application seeking directions for the appointment of a new SPP to conduct prosecution of cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, pertaining to coal block allocation matters.

Cheema, a senior advocate, was appointed as SPP on July 25, 2014 by the top court to conduct the prosecution of the offences pertaining to coal block allocation, on behalf of the CBI and the ED.

He expressed his desire to be relieved in the ED cases.

Though there was no consensus on the names of individuals, the counsel appearing on all sides unanimously agreed that this court should appoint a seasoned trial court lawyer of impeccable integrity and a designated senior advocate to guide him and conduct the proceedings, the bench noted.

"Taking into account the criteria, we hereby appoint Singh, senior advocate and former ASG, and Batra, advocate as SPPs in the place Cheema," the bench said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, senior law officer appearing for the Union Government, had suggested the names of Singh and Batra for appointment as the SPPs.

The top court had earlier nominated two judges Arun Bhardwaj and Sanjay Bansal to preside over two special courts to try 41 Coal block allocation scam cases.