Supreme Court Closes Coal Block Allocation Case Against Former PM Manmohan Singh, Accepts CBI Closure Report.
New Delhi:
The Supreme Court on Wednesday closed the criminal proceedings against former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in the coal block allocation case after accepting the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) closure report and setting aside the special court’s order summoning him as an accused.
A three-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice V. Mohana ruled that there was no justification for the trial court to reject the CBI’s closure reports and take cognisance of the case.
The Bench observed that although the appeal had become infructuous following the demise of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, it considered it appropriate to examine the legality of the special court’s decision to summon him.
In its order, the Supreme Court noted that it had carefully examined both closure reports filed by the CBI and found that the investigating agency had not found sufficient material to prosecute Singh or the other accused.
The Court held that the trial court had erred in rejecting the closure reports despite the legal principles consistently laid down by the Supreme Court regarding the acceptance of investigation reports.
“We are satisfied that there was no reason for the learned Special Judge to turn down the closure reports of the CBI and take cognisance,” the Bench observed while allowing the appeal. Consequently, it accepted the closure reports, set aside the impugned order of the special court, and formally closed the matter.
The case related to the allocation of the Talabira-II coal block in Odisha in 2005. A special CBI court had earlier summoned former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, former Coal Secretary P.C. Parakh, and three others as accused in connection with the allocation.
However, the Supreme Court had stayed the operation of the summoning order soon after it was challenged.
During the proceedings, Manmohan Singh had argued that the prosecution against him could not proceed in the absence of the mandatory sanction required for prosecuting a public servant. He had also denied any criminal wrongdoing in the decision-making process relating to the coal block allocation, maintaining that all actions were taken in accordance with the law and established procedures.
With the Supreme Court’s latest ruling accepting the CBI’s closure report and quashing the summoning order, the long-pending criminal proceedings against the former Prime Minister and the other accused in the Talabira-II coal block allocation case have come to an end.
