Supreme Court stays summon to ex-PM Manmohan Singh and others in coal scam

In a relief to former prime minister Manmohan Singh, the Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the summons issued by a special court against him and five others in connection with the allocation of the Talabira-II coal block to Aditya Birla owned company Hindalco in Odisha in 2005.

The court also stayed the trial court proceedings in the case till it finally decides the petitions filed by Singh and other accused, including industrialist Kumaramangalam Birla and former coal secretary PC Parakh, in the court.

"Issue notice to CBI on all six petitions. The trial court order shall remain stayed," a bench of Justices V Gopala Gowda and C Nagappan said in the order after hearing arguments by former law minister Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Singh and other noted lawyers including Harish Salve and Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

In a jam-packed court room by the lawyers, media persons, Sibal began his arguments questioning the legality of the special court's findings against Singh. The court proceeding which lasted for about half-an-hour was also witnessed by Singh's two daughters Upinder Singh and Daman Singh.

"Petitioner (Singh) had committed no illegal act. This is an administrative decision and not an illegal act. The petitioner had disagreed with the screening committee's recommendations. This is not a case in which summons should have been issued," the senior counsel argued.

To the court's query as to why Singh did not comply with the screening committee's recommendation to allot the block to NLC, Sibal argued that his client was only exercising his plenary powers and did not gain any pecuniary advantage from the allocation."

Sibal said it is not an illegal act to allot a mine contending that the administrative acts of the prime minister cannot be faulted on the ground that he did not follow the recommendations or procedures adopted by the screening committee.

He said the trial court order was silent about the requirement of prior sanction to prosecute a public servant under Cr PC and also the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The bench asked the counsel to satisfy it on provisions relating to grant of sanction to prosecute a public servant.

Sibal referred to various Supreme Court judgments saying "even if I am the coal minister at the relevant time, I don't lose the status of the Prime Minister who has got plenary power. Everyday, I take decisions as minister and reject the advice, should I be sent to Tihar Jail?"

"Where is the criminal conspiracy? The ingredient of criminal conspiracy was missing. There is no criminal intention. My client did not meet any private party while allocating the coal block and there was no quid pro quo. Is it an offence to grant coal mines to a private sector company? It is completely bogus," Sibal added in his argument.

Senior advocate Harish Salve on behalf of Birla argued that Singh's decision to allot the block to a joint venture of NLC, Mahanadi Coal and Hindalco after a communication from the Odisha government was fair and a decision in tune with the federal nature of governance.