Supreme Court gives clean chit to former PM Manmohan Singh in coal block allocation case, summon order canceled

Tezzbuzz Desk- Giving a big relief to former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Supreme Court has canceled the summon order issued against him in the famous case related to coal block allocation. The court accepted the closure report of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and ended further proceedings against him in the case.

The case pertained to the alleged irregular allocation of Talabira-II coal block in Odisha to Hindalco Industries during the UPA government. At that time, Dr. Manmohan Singh had the additional charge of the Coal Ministry along with the post of Prime Minister. On this basis, the process of making him an accused in the case was started. In the year 2015, the special CBI court of Delhi, despite the closure report of the investigating agency, arrested Dr. Manmohan Singh, industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, former Coal Secretary P.C. Summons were issued against Parakh and others. The trial court believed that the available evidence was sufficient to prosecute.

However, Dr. Manmohan Singh challenged this order in the Supreme Court. His argument was that when the CBI itself has said that no prosecutable evidence has been found after investigation, then the trial court is not justified in issuing summons. The Supreme Court had stayed the summons in April 2015 itself, after which the case proceedings against him could not proceed further. This case remained pending in the Supreme Court for almost a decade. After the death of Dr. Manmohan Singh in December 2024, the apex court, while disposing of the case, canceled the summoning order of the trial court and accepted the closure report of CBI. With this, all legal proceedings against the former Prime Minister in this case ended.

With this decision of the Supreme Court, the long-running legal process against Dr. Manmohan Singh in the Talabira-II coal block allocation case has come to an end.