New Delhi: The Supreme Court today (Dec 2, 2003) allowed a public interest litigation (PIL) two-week time to make all the States parties in the petition seeking Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into Rs 33,000 crore Telgi stamp paper scam case.

A Bench, headed by V N Khare, directed another petition seeking transfer of all Telgi related cases from various high courts to the apex court, to be listed along with the PIL.

The petition sought probe by the premier investigating agency on the ground that some of the State Governments were reluctant to order probe by CBI.

The petition, filed by advocate Ajay Aggarwal annexed several newspaper reports relating to the spread of the scam, alleging that though Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani made a public statement that the Centre was ready for a CBI inquiry, Maharashtra and Karnataka were not making necessary request as "political big wigs" are allegedly involved in the scandal.

The petitioner requested the apex court to order CBI probe into the scam and monitor the investigation, as the fake stamp papers were circulated across the country in connivance with the officials and politicians.

PTI