The coal block allocation controversy, popularly known as the Coalgate case, arose after the Government of India allotted coal mining blocks to public and private companies between 2004 and 2009. Coal is a black rock found underground and is used to produce electricity and heat. A coal block is an area of land where coal is present and can be mined. During part of this period, Dr. Manmohan Singh was both the Prime Minister and the Minister in charge of the Coal Ministry. Coal blocks were then allotted through a screening committee instead of competitive auctions.
In 2012, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India said that allotting coal blocks without auctions may have caused a very large financial loss to the government. The report triggered a major political controversy, and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigated several coal block allocation cases.
One case involved the Talabira-II coal block in Odisha. The CBI found no evidence to prosecute Dr. Manmohan Singh and filed a closure report. However, in 2015, a Special CBI Court rejected the report and summoned Dr. Singh and a few others to face trial, saying the evidence should be examined during a full trial. Dr. Singh denied the allegations and said he had acted honestly and according to the law.
After further investigation, the CBI again found no evidence that Dr. Manmohan Singh had committed any criminal offence and once again asked the court to close the case. Dr. Manmohan Singh died in 2024 before the case reached its final conclusion. In 2026, nearly two years after his death, the Supreme Court accepted the CBI’s closure report and ended the criminal proceedings against him. The Court found no sufficient reason to reject the CBI’s conclusion that there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing. The decision gave Dr. Manmohan Singh a posthumous clean chit in the Talabira-II coal block allocation case, bringing the long-running legal proceedings against him to a close.
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