The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to appoint senior advocate Mr U.U. Lalit as Special Public Prosecutor (PP) in the 2G spectrum allocation case to assist the Special Court.

A Special Court was recently been set up exclusively to hear the 2G case. The apex court also directed the Centre to issue a notification regarding Mr Lalit's appointment.

The CBI had earlier proposed Mr Lalit's name for the post of Special PP, but the Centre opposed it on technical grounds. Senior advocate Mr K.K. Venugopal, representing the CBI, said Mr Lalit is a man of integrity and was an expert in criminal law.

Incidentally, Mr Lalit is representing Mr Hasan Ali Khan – accused of money laundering, tax evasion and passport forgery – in the black money case.

The apex court gave Mr Lalit the liberty to choose names of other advocates to be prosecutors to assist him in the matter from the panel of advocates working for the CBI. The court added that the CBI can nominate its advocates to provide assistance to Mr Lalit.

The apex court also asked the Special Court to hold the trial on a daily basis without any adjournment. Besides, the apex court has restrained other courts from taking up any plea related to the 2G case, adding that all such applications will have to be filed before the apex court alone.

The CBI had submitted its first chargesheet before the Special Court on April 2. The agency has said that it would file another chargesheet by April 24 on the bribery aspect of the scam. The apex court will now take up the matter again on April 26.

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