New Delhi, Feb 2 (Inditop.com) The Delhi High Court Tuesday summoned Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar to personally appear before it Feb 11 on a petition filed by a company that the defence ministry has blacklisted on corruption charges.

Kumar had been asked to appear on Jan 20 but after his representative failed to show up, Justice S. Muralidhar Tuesday asked him to personally appear on Feb 11.

The petitioner, R.K. Machine Tools, is among the seven defence firms blacklisted last year after their names figuried in a corruption case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and all the dealings with them were “put on hold”.

The defence ministry’s decision came after CBI had registered a case against former Ordinance Factory Board director general Sudipto Ghosh in Kolkata on May 17, 2009 under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The seven companies were mentioned in the case.

R.K. Machine Tools moved the Delhi High Court last year seeking to know why the defence ministry had not taken any action against Ghosh.