NEW DELHI, Mar 31: The Supreme Court is expected to take up tomorrow the petition of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had challenged a trial court order issuing him summons in connection with the allocation of Talabira-II coal block to Kumarmangalam Birla-owned Hindalco. K T S Tulsi, one of the lawyers of Dr Manmohan Singh, told UNI that the apex court is expected to hear the plea tomorrow. Along with Mr Tulsi, two more senior counsel, Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, would also present Dr Manmohan Singh’s case.
“Yes, the case would most likely to come up for hearing tomorrow in the Supreme Court,” Mr Tulsi said over phone. On last Wednesday, the 84-year-old former Prime Minister had moved the apex court seeking to quash the order, which had issued him summons as an accused to appear before the Special CBI court on April 8.
The petition contended that the trial court order of Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar was bad in law as there was no criminality committed by the former Premier in any coal block allocation.
Besides Dr Manmohan Singh, the special CBI court had also issued summons against former coal Secretary P C Parakh and four others.
Judge Parashar had directed Dr Manmohan Singh and the others to appear before his court on April 8. It had issued summons against Dr Manmohan Singh under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and corruption. (agencies)