The Supreme Court on Wednesday accepted the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) decision to close the coal scam case against former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana, allowed Singh’s appeal challenging the summons issued to him by a trial court in 2015.
The Court said there were no valid reasons for the trial court to reject the CBI’s closure report. It accepted the closure report filed by the CBI against Singh and the other accused.
The decision comes more than one-and-a-half years after Singh’s death. He passed away on December 26, 2024.
Kapil Sibal sought removal of court observations
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the former Prime Minister, had earlier requested the court to dispose of the case while removing the observations made against Singh.
“I do not want these observations to remain,” Sibal told the court.
Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi also appeared on behalf of the former Prime Minister.
Supreme Court had stayed summons earlier
On April 1, 2025, the Supreme Court stayed the summons issued to Singh by the trial court.
At the time, Singh was represented by Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, KTS Tulsi, Ashwani Kumar, Vivek Tankha and Hiren P. Rawal.
Sibal defended coal block allocation decision
During the hearing, Kapil Sibal argued that there was nothing illegal in the former Prime Minister’s decision to allocate coal blocks to Hindalco despite the Screening Committee’s recommendation.
He said it was an administrative decision and there was no law preventing the government from allocating coal blocks to a private company.
Sibal also told the court that the trial court had issued summons to Singh even though the CBI had already filed two closure reports in the case.
Following these arguments, the Supreme Court stayed the proceedings against the former Prime Minister.
With Wednesday’s order, the Supreme Court allowed Singh’s appeal, accepted the CBI’s closure report and formally closed the case against the former Prime Minister.
