New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday formally closed the long-standing criminal case against former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh regarding the 2005 Talabira-II coal block allocation in Odisha. A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, set aside a previous trial court order that had summoned Dr. Singh as an accused in the matter.
In its ruling, the top court accepted the closure reports filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which had previously exonerated the former Prime Minister of any wrongdoing. The Bench observed that there was no legal justification for the special trial judge to have rejected the CBI’s findings or to have taken cognizance of the matter against Dr. Singh. The court emphasized that it had reviewed the investigative agency’s reports in line with established judicial parameters and found them sufficient to warrant a clean chit.
The case originated from the controversial allocation of the Talabira-II coal block during Dr. Singh’s tenure. Alongside the former Prime Minister, the special court had initially summoned industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, former Coal Secretary P.C. Parakh, and three others as accused. Dr. Singh had consistently maintained his innocence, arguing that his administrative decisions were made in good faith and challenging the prosecution for lacking the mandatory legal sanction required to initiate proceedings against a former public official.
While the court noted that the appeal could have been rendered infructuous following the former Prime Minister’s passing, the Bench opted to issue a definitive judgment to clarify the legal threshold for trial courts when reviewing closure reports submitted by investigating agencies. By allowing the appeal and quashing the summoning orders, the Supreme Court has effectively concluded the litigation.
