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SC stays summons to Manmohan Singh
In a relief to former Prime minister Manmohan Singh, the Supreme Court on Wednesday put on hold the summons issued by a special court in connection with the allocation of 15 percent share in the Talabira II coal block to Kumar Mangalam Birla-owned Hindalco.The bench of Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice C. Nagappan suspended the summons by the special court holding trial of coal scam cases as counsel Kapil Sibal
COAL ALLOCATION CASE
New Delhi: In a relief to former Prime minister Manmohan Singh, the Supreme Court on Wednesday put on hold the summons issued by a special court in connection with the allocation of 15 percent share in the Talabira II coal block to Kumar Mangalam Birla-owned Hindalco.The bench of Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice C. Nagappan suspended the summons by the special court holding trial of coal scam cases as counsel Kapil Sibal -- describing the March 11 order summoning Manmohan Singh as "completely perverse" -- asked where was the act of illegality.
Manmohan Singh's two daughters, Upinder Singh and Daman Singh, were present in the visitors' gallery of court No.9 where the hearing was taking place. The apex court also issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on a batch of petitions challenging the March 11 order and also stayed further proceedings in the matter. The court also put on hold the summons against industrialist Birla, former coal secretary P.C. Parakh, D. Bhattacharya and Hindalco.
It also issued notice to the central government on a writ petition by Birla, who challenged the constitutional validity of section 13(1)(d)(iii) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The provision which has been challenged says "while holding office as a public servant, obtains for any person any valuable thing or pecuniary advantage without any public interest...."
The court was urged to consider whether the principle of strict liability could be invoked when interpreting the section. Sibal, appearing for Manmohan Singh, said: "Is it illegal to allocate mines? Is it illegal to choose private parties to allocate the mines? Is it illegal if I (the then prime minister) don't agree with the screening committee -- which has been held non-existent by the apex court by its August 25, 2014 judgment?"
