Congress hails suspension of summons to Manmohan

The Congress on Wednesday hailed the Supreme Court putting on hold on a special court's summon to former prime minister Manmohan Singh that sought his appearance as accused in the coal scam.

Describing the suspension as "appropriate", party leader Manish Tiwari said: "The summon in the first place, even after the CBI filing a closure report, was a case of judicial overreach (by a Central Bureau of Investigation court)."

"The SC has rightly stayed the summon," Tiwari told IANS.

Singh moved the apex court on March 25, challenging the summons issued by special court Judge Bharat Parashar on March 11 over the allocation of Talabira II coal block in Odisha to Kumar Mangalam Birla-owned Hindalco in 2005.

The Congress always maintained that "there was no wrongdoing in that allocation at all. It was done in consonance with the established procedure," Tiwari said.

Though there is no criminal charge against the former prime minister, the CBI sought to investigate him for criminal breach of trust, criminal conspiracy, and corruption.

Following the investigation, no irregularity was found, said Tiwari.

However, notwithstanding the subsequent closure report, the investigating agency was over-ruled by the court which later summoned the former prime minister as an accused in the coal scam.