New Delhi: Special CBI judge Bharat Parashar said that the involvement of the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would impact the morale of the whole country.
The court noted that Dr Singh chose to keep the coal portfolio with him and “prima facie he cannot claim that being the Prime Minister he could not be expected to personally look into the minute details of each and every case”.
It said the “omission” of not referring the request of Hindalco to the screening committee in accordance with established procedure showed that it was a “conscious decision” by the accused to accommodate Hindalco in a joint coal block comprising Talabira-II and Talabira-III coal blocks.
It observed that Dr Singh’s approval in violation of established procedure and already approved guidelines “clearly resulted in defeating the efforts of Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd (NLC) “to establish a 2,000 MW power plant in Odisha”. “His (Dr Singh’s) action thus resulted in loss to NLC, and facilitated windfall profits to a private company, Hindalco,” the judge said.
A visibly upset Dr Singh said he was open to legal scrutiny in the matter that pertains to 2005 when he also held the coal portfolio.
“I hope in a fair trial I will prove my innocence,” said 83-year-old Dr Singh. “I am sure the truth will prevail and I will get a chance to put forward my case,” Dr Singh said.
Throwing its weight behind the former PM, the Congress charged the BJP with making cheap politics of the issue to divert people’s attention from the “black law” on land acquisition.
The court has asked Dr Singh and the other five accused to appear before it on April 8.
Meanwhile, the Confederation of Indian Industry expressed concern about the order. It said that while the court is absolutely within its rights to proceed on a legal course, industry would like to see that investors do not get any wrong signal.
