Coal Scam: Senior Counsel RS Cheema to continue as Special Public Prosecutor for ED cases for now

Senior Counsel RS Cheema will continue to be the Special Public Prosecutor for the ED cases relating to the coal block allocation scam, the Supreme Court said in its February 14 order. (ML Sharma vs Principal Secretary & Others).Cheema had earlier sought to be relieved from the services of SPP in the case. This had led to a deliberation on finding a suitable Counsel to take over in place of Cheema..The Court on Friday, however said that on a request made by the Apex Court itself, Cheema has agreed to continue as the SPP till the end of June this year..On our request Shri R.S. Cheema, learned senior counsel/Special Public Prosecutor has agreed to continue as a Special Public Prosecutor to conduct prosecution of the money laundering cases under the Prevention of Money laundering Act,2002 pertaining to the coal block allocation matters till 30.06.2020.Supreme Court.The Special Bench of CJI SA Bobde and Justice Deepak Gupta had earlier sought recommendations from Cheema as well as Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for a "replacement" for Cheema. While Court had intimated that it would appoint DP Singh as the SPP, the same was ultimately not crystallized..A recommendation to appoint Senior Counsel Maninder Singh was also made during the course of this deliberation. The Apex Court had, however, specified that a Trial Court lawyer was needed for the case and not a lawyer practising primarily in the Supreme Court or High Courts..For now, the ED cases will be handled by Cheema till June 30th on the Court's request.