NEW DELHI, April 1 � In a relief to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Supreme Court today stayed the trial court order summoning him as an accused in a case pertaining to grant of the Talabira-II coal block in Odisha in 2005 to Aditya Birla Group company Hindalco, reports PTI.
The stay, which also applied to Hindalco chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, former Coal Secretary PC Parakh and three others, came after senior counsel Kapil Sibal questioned the legality of the summons to the former Prime Minister citing lack of sanction as required under the CrPC and contended that allocation of a coal block was an administrative act without any criminal intent.
�We issue notice on all six petitions. The trial court order shall remain stayed,� a bench of justices V Gopala Gowda and C Nagappan said after hearing arguments by Sibal, who represented the former Prime Minister, and other lawyers in the case.
