New Delhi, The Supreme Court on Friday set aside an order of the Madras High Court which directed the trial court to summon the Union Telecom Secretary as a court witness in a case against DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran relating to the alleged setting up of “illegal” telephone exchanges.
“We set aside the high court’s order and restore the trial court’s order. A bench comprising Justices KV Viswanathan and Arun Palli was hearing a plea filed by the CBI challenging the March 25 order of the high court. “Now that we are inclined to restore the order of the trial court, we permit the respondent to summon the secretary telecom as a defence witness as indicated in our August 10 order. On August 10, the apex court had asked advocates appearing for Maran as Raju had told the court that he would not object to such a direction.
We permit the respondent to have the option to summon the secretary, telecom, as a defence witness, if he so desires,” the bench said. During the hearing, senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Maran, objected to the telecom secretary being summoned as a defence witness and said it would be appropriate if he summoned as court witness.
On March 25, the high court had allowed a plea by Maran to summon the Union Telecommunication Secretary to depose as a court witness before the trial court in Chennai in the case.
