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Coal block case: Court summons Manmohan Singh, Congress defends him
A special court here on Wednesday summoned former prime minister
Manmohan Singh, industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and former coal
secretary P.C. Parakh in a coal block allocation case, terming it a
"criminal conspiracy" with the objective to "do an illegal act".
Manmohan Singh said he was "upset" but was sure that "truth will prevail".
The court summons triggered a flurry of reactions with the Congress coming out in strong defence of Manmohan Singh.
Bharatiya
Janata Party leader and Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said the
former prime minister was paying for the "sins" of the Congress party.
Special
Judge Bharat Parashar, after taking cognizance of the Central Bureau of
Investigation's (CBI) final report in the case, also summoned officials
Shubendu Amitabh and D. Bhattacharya of Birla-owned Hindalco on April
8.
Manmohan Singh, also the then coal minister, despite not being
named as an accused by the CBI in the original first information report
(FIR), was summoned by the court for the alleged offences under
criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and provisions under the
Prevention of Corruption Act.
All the six accused have been
summoned as accused in a case related to allocation of the Talabira II
coal block in Odisha to Hindalco in 2005.
Manmohan Singh, who
headed the United Progressive Alliance government for 10 years, said he
had already stated his position before the CBI.
"Of course, I am
upset but this is part of life. I have respect for the judicial process.
I have stated my position before the CBI. I have issued statements also
justifying what we did," he told reporters.
"I have always said I
am open for legal scrutiny. I am sure the truth will prevail and I will
get a chance to put forward my case with all the facts," Manmohan Singh
said, adding that he will discuss with his legal counsel on contesting
the summons.
The court said a "well-planned and well-designed
exercise" was initiated to accommodate Hindalco in the Talabira-II coal
block by involving various public servants at different levels in the
ministry of coal (MoC) and the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
In
the process, the recommendation of the 25th Screening Committee was
nullified by adopting a procedure contrary to the approved guidelines
and rule of law, the court remarked.
"The proposal to accommodate
Hindalco in the Talabira-II coal block with a share of 15 percent was
approved without amending or relaxing the approved guidelines... by
assigning a share of 15 percent instead of 7.5 percent... Hindalco was
allowed to dishonestly misappropriate excess amount of coal and the MoC
and PMO did so in complete disregard to the public interest involved,"
the order said.
"Such a well-planned exercise, which, I may also
say, was so meticulously carried out, can be prima facie termed only as a
criminal conspiracy and the object of the same was only to do an
illegal act," it read.
The court noted that the PMO showed "extra
undue interest" in the matter by giving repeated reminders -- written
as well as telephonic -- to the MoC to expeditiously process the
allotment of the Talabira-II coal block to Hindalco in view of letters
received from Birla.
"In the present case, Manmohan Singh chose
to keep the coal portfolio with him, and thus prima facie he can not
claim that being prime minister, he could not be expected to personally
look into the minute details of each and every case," the court said.
"It
will be also not wrong if I say that while coming to such a conclusion
about prima facie involvement of the then prime minister in the present
matter, this court had to act with a heavy conscience and with full
realisation, the present order or the observations/conclusions being
made here will have over the morale of the country as a whole," the
court remarked.
On the role of Birla in the case, the court said
he, being the chairman of a leading industrial house of the country,
played an "active role by tapping his bureaucratic and political
channels" along with Bhattacharya and Amitabh in order to secure
allocation of Talabira-II.
The court on December 16 last year,
while refusing to accept the CBI's closure report, had directed the
agency to record the former prime minister's statement.
Defending
Manmohan Singh, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the party
was confident that examination of full facts will establish fairness and
transparency in the allocation.
Congress leader Kapil Sibal said he was "saddened" at Manmohan Singh being summoned by a court.