The Supreme Court on Friday (August 21, 2026) set aside an order of the Madras High Court which directed the trial court to summon the Union Telecom Secretary Amit Agarwal as a court witness in a case against DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran relating to the alleged setting up of “illegal” telephone exchanges .
A bench comprising Justices K.V. “Now that we are inclined to restore the order of the trial court, we permit the respondent (Mr. We set aside the High Court’s order and restore the Trial Court’s order. During the hearing, Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Mr. Maran as to why the Telecom Secretary cannot be summoned as a defence witness.
Viswanathan and Arun Palli was hearing a plea filed by the CBI challenging the March 25 order of the High Court. Maran) 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 Mr.
We permit the respondent to have the option to summon the secretary, telecom, as a defence witness, if he so desires,” the bench said. 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 Mr. Maran, who was Minister of Communications and Information Technology between 2004 and 2007, was entitled to service-category telecom connections during the relevant period. The Trial Court by its order dated October 10, 2025, had rejected Mr.
Mr. Maran’s prayer to summon the Telecom Secretary as the court witness.
Raju had told the Court that he would not object to such a direction. The High Court had said that Secretary’s evidence was relevant to determining whether Mr.
Maran to summon the Union Telecommunication Secretary to depose as a court witness before the Trial Court in Chennai in the case.
