Coal Scam: ASJ Bharat Parashar made Special Judge, Senior Advocate RS Cheema the Special Public Prosecutor

After much consultation and debate, the Supreme Court today appointed the former Advocate General of Punjab, RS Cheema as the Special Public Prosecutor in the coal block allocation matters..The Supreme Court has allowed RS Cheema to choose his team of lawyers, and also pointed out that the special public prosecutor will have access to all the material collected in the course of investigation..The other names that were recommended today by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi included Senior Advocates Satish Maneshinde and Dayan Krishnan. However, there was no consensus on these names. The Supreme Court bench headed by CJI RM Lodha also suggested the name of Senior Advocate KV Vishwanathan. However, Vishwanathan refused on the ground of conflict of interest..Earlier Senior Advocate and former Solicitor General, Gopal Subramanium had turned down the offer citing prior commitments..The Supreme Court has also approved the appointment of Additional Sessions Judge Bharat Parashar as judge of the special court that will conduct the trials in coal scam. The court directed that the cases pending before different courts shall stand transferred before the special judge..The Court also instructed that the special court shall proceed with the trial expeditiously and on day to day basis.