New Delhi: Indias former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh filed an appeal in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, 25 March against the summons issued to him by a trial court in connection with the coal blocks allocation scam. Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Judge Bharat Parashar had summoned
Mr Singh along with five others as accused to appear before the trial court on April 8, in the alleged irregular allotment of Talabira-II coal block to a joint venture of Hindalco, whose chairman is KM Birla.
Dr. Singhs petition reportedly seeks that the order of special judge Bharat Parashar be struck down on various grounds including that the order is bad in law and fails to fix any specific act of criminality on the former PM. Singh, who was also in-charge of the coal ministry at the relevant time, has reportedly said in his petition that at the relevant time- i.e; 2005 when the coal blocks in question were allocated to a leading Indian corporation- Hindalco, there had been no coal policy in place and as such, there could not be a charge of favouritism against him. The petition is likely to be mentioned for an urgent hearing before the court on Thursday, 26 March.
Upset over the summons issued to him the former PM had earlier this month said he was sure that the truth would prevail in the matter. I hope in any fair trial, I would be able to establish my total innocence. I have stated before the CBI my position and I have also as a prime minister issued a statement justifying what we did, he had said.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi had described the summons to the former Prime Minister as “outrageous”, before gathering members of Congress Working Committee and MPs- a crowd of around 100 people in a solidarity march on the streets of New Delhi to the residence of Manmohan Singh on 12 March.
“I was outraged at the news that summons had been served to Manmohan Singh,” Sonia said adding, The former PM is known not only in our country but throughout the world as a person of integrity and probity. We are here to offer our unstinted support. Congress is fully behind him. We shall fight this legally and with all our means at our command. We are sure, we are convinced, that he will be vindicated.
Potentially the second former head of government to face trial, 83-year-old Singh had been summoned as an accused by a special court overseeing all coal scam related matters on March 11 this year. Along with him, the court had also summoned former coal secretary PC Parakh, industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and three others saying some acts of their omission and commission, though not all, show their complicity in the conspiracy.
Parashar, who had been considering the Central Bureau of Investigation’s final report in the case, directed Singh and the others to appear before his court to answer charges of criminal conspiracy, breach of trust and corruption. –EJ
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