SC closes case against former PM Manmohan Singh in coal block allocation case

• The Supreme Court closed a criminal case against former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a coal block allocation case while setting aside a summoning order passed against him.

• Singh passed away on December 26, 2024.

• A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana accepted the CBI’s closure report giving a clean chit to the former PM and others.

• The apex court said there was no reason for the trial court judge to turn down closure reports of CBI and take cognisance.

What was the case about?

• The case pertains to allocation of Talabira II coal block in Odisha to Hindalco in 2005, when the then Prime Minister Singh was holding the coal portfolio.

• Manmohan Singh, industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, ex-coal secretary P.C. Parakh and three others were summoned as accused by a special court in a coal scam case pertaining to allocation of Talabira-II coal block in Odisha in 2005.

• Special CBI judge had summoned the six accused for the alleged offences punishable under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent) of the IPC and under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).

• CBI, in its FIR, had named Parakh, Birla, Hindalco Industries Ltd and other unknown persons for alleged offences under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and under provisions of the PCA.

• The Supreme Court, however, intervened and stayed the directive.

• The Opposition had targeted Singh over the coal block allocation controversy, often referred to as the “Coalgate scam”.