The Supreme Court on Monday advanced to November 30 hearing on the Centre's controversial decision to withdraw the two-decade old Bofors payoffs case against Italian businessmen Ottavio Quattrocchi.
A bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam agreed to advance
the date of hearing from December 11 to November 30 on the plea of Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam and Additional Solicitor General P P Malhotra.
The Centre submitted the matter be heard early as the trial court had deferred its verdict till March 2010 on the closure report filed by CBI against Quattrocchi.
The Centre had during the earlier hearing in the apex court claimed all efforts to extradite Quattrocchi, an accused in the case relating to payment of Rs. 64 crore as commission in the Howitzer gun deal, have failed.
It contended the decision was taken considering a Delhi High Court judgement of 2005 which had held that no case of corruption was made out in the Bofors deal.
Subramanium had said the government came to the decision after taking into account all the facts of the case.
The Centre's decision had drawn flak from BJP and lawyer Ajay Agraawl who had moved the apex court in January, 2006, against the defreezing of Quattrocchi's bank account in London and opposed the stand of the Centre and CBI.