The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Central Bureau of Investigation and Swedish arms manufacturer A B Bofors on a petition challenging the Delhi high court verdict quashing charges against the company in the Bofors pay-off case.

The petition came up for hearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice R C Lahoti which had last week admitted a public interest litigation challenging the high court verdict quashing all charges against the Hinduja brothers.

Advocate Raj Kumar Pandey, in his the petition against the judgment rejecting charges against Bofors company, said he had approached the apex court as the CBI had not filed a special leave petition against the verdict.

• Bofors case: 'All is not lost'

The advocate asked how a single bench of the same court can quash the order of another judge.

He referred to the February 4, 2004 order of Justice J D Kapoor, which directed the CBI to frame charge of forgery under Section 465 of the Indian Penal Code against the Bofors company.

The high court had on May 31 quashed all charges against Hinduja brothers-- Srichand, Gopichand and Prakashchand-- and Bofors company and castigated the CBI for its handling of the case saying it had cost the exchequer about Rs 250 crore.