The supreme court on Wednesday reserved its order on a plea to set up a special investigation team (SIT) to track the black money stashed away in foreign banks and to take steps for bringing it back to the country.

A bench of justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar also reserved its verdict on a petition seeking directions to the government to make public the names of persons who have kept black money in the Liechtenstein Bank.

The Centre opposed the plea and contended before the bench that a committee comprising top officers from CBI, ED, IB and other departments has already been formed to deal with the black money cases.

Solicitor general Gopal Subramainum informed the court that the 10-member committee consisting of revenue secretary, RBI's deputy director, directors of CBI, Intelligence Bureau (IB), enforcement directorate, chairman of CBDT, director general of Revenue Intelligence, chief of Narcotics Control, director of Foreign Intelligence Office (FIO) and joint secretary of Foreign Trade has already been appointed.

The court then asked the government whether it would have any problem if a retired supreme court judge is appointed to monitor the functioning of the committee.

The government vehemently opposed the idea, saying it would hamper the investigation in the case.

The bench had earlier on March 18 favoured setting up of a SIT, saying the issue is "wider" and had asked the Centre to come up with its possible composition.

It had asked the government to make its stand clear on setting up the SIT comprising officers from different departments including the enforcement directorate, the CBI and the IT to look into it.

The court was hearing a petition filed by noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani and some former bureaucrats seeking the court's direction to the government to bring black money stashed by Indian nationals in foreign banks, which is said to be to the tune of 1 trillion US dollars.

Besides Jethmalani, five others, including former Punjab DGP K P S Gill and former secretary general of Lok Sabha Subhash Kashyap who are petitioners, have alleged that the government was not taking action to bring the back black money stashed in foreign banks.

NGO People's Political Front and former top cop Julio F Riberio are also among the petitioners.

Earlier, the apex court had also expressed displeasure over the government's reluctance in disclosing the names of Indians having black money in foreign banks.

"What is the difficulty in disclosing the information," the bench had asked, when Subramanium told the bench that the government has got the details but did not want to reveal it.

The court's remarks came after the government contended that it has got the information pertaining to the bank accounts of Indian citizens in Liechtenstein Bank.

The petitioners were also opposed to government's idea of setting-up a High Powered Committee.

Jethamalani has maintained that the monitoring group or the SIT should be headed by a retired supreme court judge and should comprise a serving or retired high court judge and be assisted by a distinguished retired police officer experienced in interrogation and a retired public official experienced in investigation, both of whom should be of high standing and integrity.