LOS ANGELES, Mar. 5 – Charles M. Manson, who allegedly gave the orders which led to the killing last August of actress Sharon Tate and six others, is scheduled to meet today with Susan Denise Atkins, the principal witness against him before the County Grand Jury.

Miss Aikins’ attorney, Richard Caballero, said he arranged the meeting at the request of both his client and Manson.

Manson, acting as his own attorney, was given permission by the court several weeks ago to interview the other five defendants, including Miss Atkins, to assist him in preparing his defense, provided they and their attorneys consented.

He has not yet met with any of the others, it is understood.

Caballero said Miss Atkins, who is known as “Sadie Glutz” to the Manson family, has been anxious to see Manson.

The lawyer and Manson reportedly had several conversations in the last month to lay the groundwork for the meeting with Miss Atkins, at which Caballero said he will be present.

The meeting, reportedly to be held in the attorney’s room in the men’s jail, can be considered highly unusual in view of the woman’s role in the investigation up to this time.

In a personal story published by The Times last Dec. 14, Miss Atkins wrote that Manson instructed her and four others to go to the Tate estate in Benedict Canyon last August and sent three of the other suspects into the Los Feliz area home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca the following night.

It still is not known whether Miss Atkins will agree to testify at the trial now scheduled for March 30, against Manton and the other co-defendants.

If she does not, her grand jury testimony cannot be used against them, although it can be introduced by co-prosecutors Aaron H. Stovitz and Vincent T. Bugliosi against her, if she is tried separately.

The meeting with Manson presumably will assist her in making the decision whether to testify.

Meanwhile, in a petition which he admittedly described as “revolutionary” and “unorthodox,” Manson Wednesday sought restoration of certain jail rights and asked that a commission be appointed to study and recommend procedures to modernize the state’s judicial system.

Superior Judge William B. Keene said he will study Manson’s brief and decide, probably today, whether to grant him a hearing on his request or rule on the legal points and arguments cited in the petition.

Manson, who still is in solitary confinement as a result of a series of infractions of jail regulations, including the striking of another prisoner, is seeking either unlimited visitations by prospective witnesses and freedom to travel to any place he deems necessary to prepare his defense, or his release on a minimum bail.

Because murder is a possible death penalty offense, he is being held without bail.

Manson also requested an order which would require the prosecution during the trial to refer to him as “Charlie” rather than the defendant, the accused or “the hippie.”

In seeking a modernization of the judicial system. Manson suggested that if it is not responsive to changes, it will become as extinct as “any other cumbersome dinosaur.”

By RON EINSTOSS