Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approached Supreme Court on Wednesday for an early disposal of his appeal in coal scam case despite a stay on his trial pending before the lower court. Appearing for Singh, senior advocate Kapil Sibal made an urgent mentioning before the Bench headed by Chief Justice Hl Dattu to list his petition on an early date. Singh had urged in his petition that the charge under Section 13(1)(d)(iii) of the Prevention of Corruption Act was vague and its scope required to be determined before he could face trial under it.
The charge accused a public servant of criminal misconduct is while holding office, he obtains for any person any valuable thing or pecuniary advantage without any public interest. The CBI had alleged that Singh had a role to play in the illegal allocation of Talabira coal block to Hindalco. Along with Singh, Hindalco’s head Kumarmangalam Birla too had obtained stay on trial against him from Supreme Court.
The bench headed by Chief Justice told Sibal that the matter may be listed before the special coal bench. But Sibal objected claiming that his case was limited to constitutional validity of a provision in Prevention of Corruption Act and any bench other than the coal bench be formed to hear and dispose it. Before the bench could take a decision on Singh’s petition, other accused led by senior advocates Harish Salve and KK Venugopal also queued up before CJI with a demand to list their appeals too at the earliest. While the bench proposed November 17 as the date for hearing the matters, there was no consensus. The CJI asked the lawyers appearing on both sides to arrive at a consensus and inform the bench.