A file photo of Manmohan Singh. Photo: Mohd. Zakir/HT
New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, head of the Aditya Birla Group Kumar Mangalam Birla and Hindalco Industries Ltd moved the Supreme Court on Wednesday against an 11 March order of a special court summoning them as accused over accusations of criminal conspiracy and corruption in a case relating to the allotment of a coal block in Odisha.
Hindalco executive D. Bhattacharya has also moved the apex court challenging the summons.
Former coal secretary P.C. Parakh, who had also been summoned, said that he had already filed a petition challenging the summons in the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
“Special leave petitions have been filed by Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Mr. D. Bhattacharya, managing director, and Hindalco, in the Supreme Court against the orders of the special court which had issued the summons to them,” said an Aditya Birla Group spokesperson.
The order required the accused—Singh, Birla, Parakh, Bhattacharya and group executive president of Aditya Birla Management Corporation Pvt. Ltd. Shubhendu Amitabh—to be present in court on 8 April.
Special judge Bharat Parashar, hearing the coal mines allocations case had said that on the face of it, there was enough evidence to summon these five persons and the company Hindalco.
Calling the inclusion of Hindalco in the Talabira-II coal block “dishonest”, the special judge said in his order that “there apparently was a concerted effort by all concerned to somehow accommodate M/s Hindalco in Talabira-II coal block irrespective of the rules, regulations, guidelines or procedure permitting the same much less the rule of law” and “in complete disregard to the public interest involved”.
Hindalco had denied using any unlawful or inappropriate means for securing the allocation of the coal block.
The case in the trial court pertains to the allotment of Talabira II and Talabira III coalfields in Odisha to a joint venture between Hindalco, Neyveli Lignite Corp. Ltd (NLC) and Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd in 2005.
The Central Bureau of Investigation, in its first information report (FIR), had named Parakh, Birla, Hindalco and other unknown individuals for offences under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
Hindalco had applied for the Talabira II block in 1996, but the coal block screening committee gave it to NLC in August 2005, citing an existing coal linkage given to Hindalco. However, Birla pointed out that the company had applied for the mine earlier, and that its coal linkage was not used. Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik then wrote to the Prime Minister’s office (PMO) supporting Birla’s case, after which the PMO asked the screening committee to reconsider its decision.
The committee—headed by Parakh—did, and clubbed the Talabira II and Talabira III mines and granted it to NLC, Hindalco, and Mahanadi Coalfields.
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