The Supreme Court has sought the assistance of top law officers, that of the Attorney General or the Solicitor General, in hearing a petition against the opening of the multi brand retail sector to foreign direct investment (FDI).

Without issuing notice to the Centre, a bench of justices R M Lodha and A R Dave asked the petitioner to serve the copy of the petition to Attorney General (AG) or Solicitor General (SG) saying it needs some necessary clarification on the issue.

The bench, which posted the matter for hearing on 12th October directed the petitioner to delete the name of the Prime Minister as a party in the petition.

While seeking the assistance of top law officers, the bench said that they just want to have little clarity on the issue as some link is missing.

During an hour-long hearing, the bench said opening the retail sector to FDI is a policy matter and policy is exclusively in the domain of the government of the day. Some may say it is good and some may say it is bad but nothing is ultra vires.

The bench further observed that these are matters dealt with exclusively by ministries .

The court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed by a advocate who has alleged that the notification was issued without the authority of law as approval of neither the President nor the Parliament was secured.