The Supreme Court on Wednesday closed the criminal proceedings against former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the coal block allocation case, setting aside the order that had summoned him as an accused.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana accepted the CBI's closure reports, effectively giving Singh and the other accused a clean chit.
The court held that there was no justification for the trial court to reject the CBI's closure reports and proceed to take cognisance of the case.
"Although the appeal could have been disposed of as infructuous owing to the unfortunate demise of the appellant, we have examined the issue of the learned Special Judge taking cognisance and summoning the appellant after considering both closure reports filed by the CBI," the Bench said.
It added that, in light of the legal principles consistently laid down by the Supreme Court regarding the acceptance of investigation reports, there was no valid reason for the Special Judge to reject the closure reports. The court accordingly allowed the appeal, set aside the impugned order, accepted the CBI's closure reports and brought the matter to a close.
Singh, industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, former Coal Secretary P.C. Parakh and three others had been summoned by a Special Court in connection with the allocation of the Talabira-II coal block in Odisha in 2005.
The Supreme Court had earlier stayed the Special Court's order. Singh had challenged the proceedings, arguing that the mandatory sanction required to prosecute a public servant had not been obtained. He had also denied any criminal wrongdoing in relation to the coal block allocation.
(With inputs from PTI)
