11 Years Too Late: Supreme Court Exonerates Late Manmohan Singh In Coal Block Allocation Case
· Free Press Journal
Justice delayed is often described as justice denied. In the case of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, justice came not merely delayed but posthumously. Eleven years after the coal block allocation case was registered against him, and 19 months after his death, the Supreme Court has finally and unequivocally exonerated him.
It is a verdict that restores his honour, but it cannot erase the suffering inflicted upon him. Few public figures in modern India have enjoyed the reputation for personal honesty that he did.
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In the biographical book Strictly Personal, his daughter, Daman Singh, recalls that while he was Governor of the RBI, he kept a notebook beside the official residential telephone so that his wife and daughters could record every personal call they made. At the end of the month, he would reimburse the government for those calls. Such was his scrupulous commitment to public accountability.
A Posthumous Vindication
The Supreme Court Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana could have simply accepted the CBI’s closure report since the appeal had become infructuous after Manmohan Singh’s death. Instead, the judges chose to examine the matter on merit and held that the trial court had erred in rejecting the closure report and summoning him to face trial.
In effect, the apex court has posthumously vindicated him. He had consistently maintained that he merely presided over a Cabinet that collectively approved a policy decision regarding coal block allocations. There was neither evidence of conspiracy nor any suggestion of personal gain or quid pro quo. The Supreme Court has now accepted that position, sparing history the injustice of leaving unanswered allegations hanging over an honest man.
The larger tragedy, however, lies elsewhere. Manmohan Singh spent the last 11 years of his life under the shadow of criminal prosecution. A scholar-statesman who should have been contributing his wisdom to national policy instead had to defend his honour. That humiliation was entirely avoidable.
The Cost Of Delayed Justice
Manmohan Singh’s ordeal demonstrates that in India the process itself often becomes the punishment. Criminal prosecutions stretching endlessly, even when evidence is weak, destroy reputations long before courts pronounce verdicts.
The justice system must be reformed to prevent such prolonged persecution of innocent individuals. Ironically, not a single tonne of coal was extracted from the blocks in question. Yet, the theory of “presumptive loss” created an imaginary scandal that cast a long shadow over the UPA government and significantly influenced the 2014 general election.
The architect of that controversial concept was later rewarded with a Rajya Sabha seat. Manmohan Singh’s belated exoneration is, therefore, not merely the correction of a judicial error; it is a reminder that the nation must never again allow an honourable public servant to pay such a heavy price before truth finally prevails.