New Delhi: The Supreme Court will take up for hearing on April 1 former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s petition challenging his summoning by the special court in connection with the allocation of a part of Talabira II coal block to Kumarmangalam Birla owned Hindalco.
On being asked when they were going to mention former prime minister’s plea for an early hearing, a senior counsel who will appear for Manmohan Singh on Friday said there is no need to mention as petition is listed for hearing on April 1.
Singh on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court challenging the summons issued to him by a special court over the allocation of Talabira II coal block in Orissa to Kumarmangalam Birla-owned Hindalco in 2005.
Birla too moved the apex court challenging the December 16, 2014, and March 11, 2015, orders for summons issued by the special court. The court trying coal scam cases did not accept the closure reports by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in respect of allocation of share in combined coal blocks Talabira-II and Talabira-III and took cognizance of alleged offences.
Special Court Judge Bharat Parashar, who is holding trial of cases rooted in coal block allocation scam, on March 11 summoned Manmohan Singh as an accused for allocating Talabira II coal block in Orissa to Hindalco in 2005.
Defending the decision taken by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the petition by Birla said: “The final decision arrived at by the prime minister was based on his assessment of the right balance between the interest of the state government and that of a central public sector undertaking. The state government felt it would sub serve public interest if an allotment was made to Hindalco, and the prime minster partly agreed with this assessment.
Bureau Report
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