NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday closed the criminal proceedings against former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Talabira-II coal block allocation case, accepting the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) closure reports and setting aside a 2015 trial court order summoning him as an accused.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana held that there were no valid grounds for the trial court to reject the CBI’s closure reports and proceed against Singh, bringing to an end the long-running case more than 18 months after his death on December 26, 2024.
While noting that Singh’s appeal had technically become infructuous following his demise, the top court said it examined the matter to determine whether the special judge was justified in taking cognisance despite the investigating agency seeking closure.
“Due to unfortunate demise of the appellant, this appeal could be disposed of as infructuous. But with a view to consider the aspect of ld. spl. judge taking cognisance and summoning the appellant, we have gone through both closure reports filed by CBI.
“Having regard to the relevant parameters consistently laid down by this court on acceptance of reports of investigating agency, we are satisfied that there was no reason for ld. judge to turn down closure reports of CBI and take cognisance. We allow the appeal and set aside the impugned judgment. As a result, we accept the closure reports of CBI and close the matter,” the bench said.
The case related to the 2005 allocation of the Talabira-II coal block in Odisha. Singh, industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, former coal secretary P C Parakh and three others had been summoned as accused by a special court in 2015, despite the CBI filing two closure reports in the matter.
During the 2015 hearing, Sibal had defended the allocation, arguing that it was an administrative decision and did not violate any law.
“It is a purely administrative decision. What is illegal in it? It is not illegal to allot a mine, it is not illegal to allot it to a private party. There is no statutory prohibition in doing so. He allotted coal blocks to a private party against the screening committee decision. There is nothing illegal in it,” Sibal had said.
Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi also appeared for the former Prime Minister.
With Wednesday’s verdict, the Supreme Court accepted the CBI’s closure reports, quashed the trial court’s summoning order and formally closed the proceedings against Singh on merits.
Source: Press Trust of India
