New Delhi, Oct 26 (IANS) The Supreme Court Tuesday issued a notice to the Gujarat government on a petition seeking change of the judge conducting the 2002 Gulberg Society massacre case trial.

The court also cleared the decks for pronouncement of the judgment in the Godhra train carnage case and said the trial in other riots related cases would continue.

However, the stay will continue on the trial in the Gulberg Society massacre case.

The petition seeking a change of the judge hearing the Gulberg Society massacre case was filed by Zakia Jaffri, widow of a former Congress MP Ehsan Jaffri who was killed in the 2002 attack.

By its May 6 order, the apex court had restrained the trial courts from pronouncing any verdict. However, it permitted them to go ahead with the trial proceedings.

In a related development, senior counsel Prashant Bhushan withdrew himself as an amicus curiae in Gulberg Society massacre case over objections raised by the state government.

Thirtynine people were killed by a mob at Gulberg Society, a Muslim neighbourhood in Ahmedabad.