Coal scam: No fraudulent conduct as former coal minister says Kapil Sibal

New Delhi: A special court had on March 11 summoned former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as an accused in the Talabira-II coal block allocation case after observing that there was a ‘conscious effort on his part to somehow accommodate’ the Aditya Birla Group Hindalco in the 2005 allocation.

Mr Sibal argued that to constitute an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act there should be mens rea (criminal intention), dishonest or fraudulent conduct, pecuniary advantage and there was no instance of alleged criminality that could be attributed to any of his acts as the coal minister.

The trial failed to identify any statute, rule or even regulation that was violated. He said the then Prime Minister, who had plenary powers, was entitled to take an administrative decision keeping in mind competing public interests.

When the bench pointed out that Dr Singh had reviewed his own decision after the Odisha CM wrote a letter to him and overruled the recommendations of the screening committee, Mr Sibal said, “As a minister I review my decisions keeping in mind various interests. How could it become an offence, should I be sent to Tihar Jail for reviewing my decision?”

He argued it was not for the court to decide whether an administrative decision was good or bad.