Taking note of the debate in Parliament on 'tainted' central ministers, the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking a ban on inclusion of such persons in the Manmohan Singh ministry.

A bench comprising Justice N Santosh Hegde, Justice S B Sinha and Justice A K Mathur, while dismissing the PIL filed by one Manoj Narula, said, "No violation of any statute is pointed out by the petitioner.

"The matter is being debated in Parliament. We will see if Parliament comes out with a legislation on this issue."

The petition, which challenged the inclusion of Lalu Prasad Yadav, Jai Prakash Yadav, M A A Fatmi and Mohammed Taslimuddin in the Council of Ministers, said ministers are required to carry out important constitutional functions and should be of impeccable integrity.

Claiming that the inclusion of 'tainted' persons breached the terms of oath given in Schedule III of the Constitution, counsel Anil Kumar Jha contended that the chargesheeted persons did not inspire confidence of the people to discharge the obligation cast under the oath provision.

The bench asked the petitioner, "Who should decide which persons should be inducted in the ministry and at what stage?"

It then dismissed the petition observing that as there was no violation of any statute on the issue.