PMO showed undue interest in coal block allocation: Court


Posted on 12th Mar 2015 12:23 pm by mohit kumar

New Delhi, March 11 (IANS) Manmohan Singh showed "extra undue interest" in alleged illegal allotment of the Talabira-II coal block in Odisha to Hindalco, a Delhi court said on Wednesday while summoning the former prime minister as an accused in the case.

Manmohan Singh, who was also the then coal minister, made repeated reminders - written as well as telephonic - to the ministry of coal (MoC) to expeditiously process the allotment of the Talabira-II coal block to Kumar Mangalam Birla-owned Hindalco.

"The repeated reminders from the PMO, written as well as telephonic, to MoC to expeditiously process the matter in view of the letters received from K.M. Birla also prima facie indicate the extra undue interest shown by the PMO in the matter," the court remarked.

Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar summoned the former prime minister for the alleged offences under criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and provisions under the Prevention of Corruption Act on April 8, 2015.

The court also summoned Birla, former coal secretary P.C. Parakh and three others in the case.

"While Manmohan Singh is still a member of Rajya Sabha, his term of the Rajya Sabha during which he was holding the charge of minister of coal has since expired," the court said.

Under these circumstances, there was no requirement of obtaining any prior sanction to take cognizance of the offences against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act, it added.

The court said Manmohan Singh, as the then minister of coal, reopened the matter pertaining to allocation of the Talabira-II coal block even though he himself had permitted the approval of the minutes of 25th Screening Committee recommending allocation of the said coal block to government-owned Neyveli Lignite Corp. Ltd. (NLC).

"Also the omission to not refer the request of Hindalco to the Screening Committee in accordance with the established procedure being followed till that time again prima facie shows that it was a conscious decision to accommodate Hindalco in a joint coal block comprising of Talabira-II and Talabira-III coal block," the court said.

"His (Manmohan Singh) action thus prima facie resulted in loss to NLC, which was a PSU, and facilitated windfall profits to a private company, Hindalco," the court said, adding that this resulted in defeating the efforts of NLC to establish a 2,000 MW power plant in Odisha.

The court said Manmohan Singh ignored the words of caution put forth by K.V. Pratap and Javed Usmani, the two officers of the PMO, to accommodate Hindalco in Talabira-II and III coal blocks.

"In the present case, Manmohan Singh chose to keep the coal portfolio with him and thus prima facie he cannot claim that being prime minister, he could not be expected to personally look into the minute details of each and every case," the court noted.

While coming to a conclusion of possible involvement of the then prime minister in the present matter, the court said it had to "act with a heavy conscience and with full realisation" of its effect over the morale of the country as a whole.

Did you know?Explore Trending and Topic pages for more stories like this.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Previous news Next news
Other news

Dangerous level of pollution in Delhi-Kolkata, shocking figures surfaced

For the last several years, it has always been discussed that pollution is increasing continuousl

Imran Khan: Pakistan PM Imran Khan's farewell is fixed! MQM withdraws support, joins hands with the opposition

The clouds of crisis have deepened over the Imran Khan government in Pakistan. The ruling party P

Modi said in SCO: Recent developments in Afghanistan are a big challenge, the root cause of these problems is increasing radicalism

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit

Now BJP will reach beyond 100 in Rajya Sabha, AAP will also get a big advantage

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are going to get benefits in the R

Good news for Indians stranded in Ukraine: Government lifts ban on operating flights due to Corona, Air India announces to send special flights

The Indian government has become active after complaints from Indian students stranded in Ukraine

President Vladimir Putin's health suddenly deteriorated, and an army of doctors ran

Ever since the war between Russia and Ukraine began, there have been reports of President Vladimi

President wishes Singapore ex-PM Lee speedy recovery

New Delhi, March 18 (IANS) President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday extended his best wishes to

Rahul Tewatia bat will speak again in IPL: Coach Vijay Yadav said - Changes made in backlift; Practiced fiercely in the open ground

In the 2020 IPL, Rahul Tewatia's bat, who came into the limelight by hitting five consecutive six

CBSE 12th Exam 2021: demand for cancellation of CBSE class 12 exam

CBSE 12th Exam 2021: Demand for cancellation of the CBSE 12th exam has now arisen because of the

Corona in the country: 162 doctors, 107 nurses, and 44 Asha workers have lost their lives across the country so far due to infection

The central government told Parliament on Tuesday that so far 162 doctors, 107 nurses, and 44 Ash

Sign up to write
Sign up now if you have flare of writing..
Login   |   Register
Follow Us
Indyaspeak @ Facebook Indyaspeak @ Twitter Indyaspeak @ Pinterest RSS



Play Free Quiz and Win Cash