NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has given a clean-chit to ex-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the coal block allocation scam case, nearly two years after his demise.A special judge in SC quashed the summoning order and accepted closure reports filed by CBI. A bench said that although Singh’s appeal had become infructuous following his demise in December 2024, it had examined the CBI’s closure reports and found “no reason” for the trial court to reject them and take cognisance. “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 the learned 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 pertains to the alleged irregular allocation of the Talabira-II coal block in Odisha to Hindalco Industries during the UPA government’s tenure, when then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also held the coal portfolio.In March 2015, Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar rejected the CBI’s closure report and summoned Singh, industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, former coal secretary P C Parakh, Hindalco Industries, and company officials Shubhendu Amitabh and D Bhattacharya. They were summoned on charges including criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The CBI had initially named Birla, Parakh, Hindalco Industries and others in its FIR but later filed closure reports, saying there was no prosecutable case. The trial court, however, refused to accept the reports, directed the agency to further examine Singh and senior PMO officials, including then Principal Secretary T K A Nair and then private secretary B V R Subramanyam, before summoning the accused. Singh challenged the summons in the Supreme Court, arguing that the trial court had erred in taking cognisance despite the investigating agency finding no prosecutable case. He also questioned the absence of the mandatory sanction required to prosecute a public servant and denied any criminality in the coal block allocation decision. The apex court stayed the summons in April 2015, preventing him from facing trial.The appeal remained pending for over a decade and, following Singh’s death in December 2024, the Supreme Court has now disposed of the matter as infructuous, bringing the proceedings against the former prime minister to a close.Manmohan Singh died on December 26, 2024, at the age of 92 and was cremated with full state honours in New Delhi.
