Coal Block Allocation Case

The Supreme Court on Wednesday closed a criminal case against former prime minister Manmohan Singh in a coal block allocation case while setting aside a summoning order passed against him. A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana accepted the CBI's closure report giving a clean chit to the former PM and others. The top court said there was no reason for the trial court judge to turn down closure reports of CBI and take cognisance. "Due to unfortunate demise of the appellant, this appeal could be disposed of as infructuous. But with a view to consider the aspect of ld. spl. judge taking cognisance and summoning the appellant, we have gone through both closure reports filed by CBI. "Having regard to the relevant parameters consistently laid down by this court on acceptance of reports of investigating agency, we are satisfied that there was no reason for ld. judge to turn down closure reports of CBI and take cognisance. We allow the appeal

Jharkhand Chief Secretary Alka Tiwari on Wednesday directed officials concerned to resolve issues hindering the commencement of operations of 34 coal blocks allocated by the government. She said that as soon as these coal blocks become operational, the economic activities would lead to the creation of job opportunities and an increase in the state's revenue. Tiwari was chairing a review meeting on Wednesday to discuss the problems of the allocated coal blocks. During the meeting, it was found that most of the issues are related to land acquisition, rate calculations, compensation, forest clearances and land transfers, besides streams, rivers, and roads passing through the coal block areas. Some places were also facing law and order challenges, according to an official release. The chief secretary asked the deputy commissioners of the districts concerned to resolve the issues in a stipulated time. The officials confirmed that four coal blocks - Rajhara in Palamu, Tubed in Latehar,

The committee also directed Coal Indian Limited to include Kilhoni block in the list of blocks to be offered for captive mining, it said

The court later granted bail to all the accused persons after they appeared before it in pursuance to the summons.

Bureaucrats should not ignore norms or succumb to pressure