SC closes coal block allocation case against former PM Manmohan Singh
The Supreme Court of India has officially closed the coal block allocation case against the late former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The court ruled that there was no sufficient evidence to justify the trial court's decision to reject the CBI's closure reports.
Why it matters
This decision provides legal closure to a high-profile corruption case that had significant political implications for the former administration.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday (July 29, 2026) provided former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh posthumous relief by agreeing with two back-to-back closure reports filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2014 giving him a clean chit, while highlighting there was no “sufficient material or good reason” to register a corruption case against him in connection with the coal block allocation scam .
A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said the apex court would have ordinarily dismissed the case as infructuous solely on the ground of the demise of the appellant, however, the Bench said it had gone through the closure reports filed by the premier agency in the trial court, only to discover that the trial judge had no “compelling reason” to reject the premier agency’s closure reports and make adverse observations against the former Prime Minister.
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