New Delhi: Nearly two years after the passing of former Prime Minister late Dr Manmohan Singh, the Supreme Court on Wednesday brought legal closure to one of the cases that remain associated with his tenure in office.
In a significant judgment, the Apex Court gave Dr Singh a clean chit in the coal block allocation case (Coalgate case) by setting aside a 2015 special CBI court order that had summoned him and five others to face trial.
What was the case:
In 2012, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) released a Performance Audit of Allocation of Coal Blocks in which it was highlighted that 194 coal blocks with geological reserves of 44,440 million tonnes were allocated to private and government parties until March 31, 2011.
The report finds that the benefit to private allottees has been estimated at Rs 1.86 lakh crore for Opencast mines.
The report states that the government could have tapped some of this financial benefit by expediting the decision on competitive bidding for allocation of coal blocks.
What happened in SC:
During the hearing presided by Chief Justice of India, Justice Suya Kant, Supreme Court accepted the CBI's closure reports in the coal block allocation case, holding that there was no valid reason to reject the investigating agency's findings.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant ruled that the special CBI court was not justified in refusing to accept the closure reports and proceeding against the accused.
The court noted that the CBI had conducted a detailed investigation and had filed two separate closure reports.
Both reports concluded that there was no evidence to make out a criminal case against the former Prime Minister.
With this ruling, the Supreme Court has formally accepted the CBI's findings and closed the matter on merits.
The legal dispute dates back to the allocation of a coal block in Odisha in 2005 when the former Prime Minister was also in charge of the coal ministry.
Although the CBI concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the former Prime Minister, the special CBI court took a different view.
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Major events:
On March 11, 2015, the special court summoned the former Prime Minister and five others to face trial on charges that included criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust.
However, within weeks, on April 1, 2015, the Supreme Court stayed those proceedings while examining the legality of the summons.
That stay continued over the years until the apex court delivered its final verdict.
The Supreme Court's judgment brings an end to an 11-year legal battle that began after the special CBI court refused to accept the CBI's conclusion that no prosecution was warranted.
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How BJP took its advantage?
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) heavily targeted Singh and Congress Party. BJP released detailed political literature, such as publications titled "The Great Coal Robbery," accusing the Manmohan Singh of distributing valuable natural resources for free or at nominal costs to favored private entities and business groups at the expense of public interest.
BJP has been accusing former PM Singh of indirectly giving support to corrupts in his government. In 2017, PM Narendra Modi used a metaphorical jab on Dr Singh, by stating "there is not a single black mark against him despite all the corruption. Only Doctor Saab knows how to bathe with a raincoat in the bathroom."
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