Singh should step forward

The SC has used sarcastic language in addressing the CBI in the coal scam case and asking if the “minister for coal” in 2005 had been questioned in the allotment of Talabira I and Talabira II to Hindalco, a Birla enterprise. This was avoidable. In many high-profile cases, the judiciary has needlessly given the impression of playing to the gallery when it could have gone about its business clinically. The top court could have easily asked if then PM Manmohan Singh had been questioned. Dr Singh temporarily held the coal portfolio at the time, as he did several others. The plain answer to the question is no, and this was well known. The relevant officials in the PMO were of course asked questions.

The allocation of coal blocks to the Birlas, as it happens, seems a non-controversial affair. The selection committee headed by then coal secretary P.C. Parakh had first denied the blocks to Hindalco, but changed its mind afterward. To revise a decision was within its competence and authority and within the four walls of the administrative structure that then existed when coal blocks were not auctioned.

The matter should have rested there. However, since the coal allocation issue was found to be controversial on account of strong suspicion of bribery in several instances, Dr Singh should have volunteered to invite the CBI to ask him questions, for the sake of record and in the interest of democratic correctness. He should step forward even now.