New Delhi: The Chief Justice H.L. Dattu told counsel that requested the cases against former prime minister Manmohan Singh might not be heard on September 21, said that for the time being the cases listed on September 21 would be deleted and posted before another bench. As a result the cases of Dr Singh will be de-tagged from the coal bench.
A bench headed by Justice V. Gopala Gowda had on April 1 stayed the summons issued to Dr Singh and others seeking their appearance in the trial court on April 8. At that time it was argued that the cases against Dr Singh would not come under the ambit of coal allocation case. It was a policy decision by the UPA government and there was no dishonest intention in the coal block allocation.
Dr Singh said the trial court had criticised the functioning of the PMO “when it finds that no express noting is made by a functionary reviewing a file, as is the case on some occasions by the adviser to the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister himself.”
It was pointed out that a decision might be well motivated and bona fide – but if it failed to take into account relevant considerations, or takes into account irrelevant considerations, or was based on a misdirection of law, or was discriminatory, it cannot be considered to be an arbitrary decision. Further such a decision cannot be considered an act of corruption.
“In the present case, the impugned order does not even establish how the decision of the {former} Prime Minister would be arbitrary in the administrative law sense. To call such a decision an act of corruption was untenable in law.”
By an order dated December 16, 2014, the trial court rejected the closure report filed by the CBI which filed another report in January 2015 after carrying out further investigation. There was no change in the CBI’s position on the closure report.
However, in its order dated March 11, the trial court took cognizance of the alleged offences under Section 120B read with Section 409 Indian Penal Code; Section 13(1)(c) and 13(1)(d)(iii) of the Prevention of Corruption Act against six accused including Dr Singh, Mr Birla and Mr Parakh and issued summons for their appearance and this was stayed by the apex court.
