SC asks government to appoint U U Lalit as prosecutor in 2G case

The Supreme court today asked the central government to appoint senior advocate U U Lalit as special public prosecutor for the trial in 2G case involving former telecom minister A Raja, top corporate honchos, bureaucrats and telecom firms.

The government had raised objections to Lalit's appointment saying that to be eligible, he should have worked under the state or the union government for at least seven years as the case has been filed under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Senior advocate K K Venugopal, appearing for the CBI and the ED, had submitted that Lalit had been in the lawyer's panel for the Maharashtra government and the centre for 15 years and five years respectively and he fulfilled the criteria.

Attorney General G E Vahanvati, however, submitted that being in the panel was not sufficient and one should be government's standing counsel for seven years.

A bench of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly however, appointed Lalit as public prosecutor, overruling the centre's objections. The bench also directed the government to issue a notification for the appointment of Lalit for the trial in the multi-crore scam.

SC has given Lalit the option to choose his team of prosecutors from the panel of advocates working for the CBI.