The Supreme Court has refused to bring former coal ministers, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, under scrutiny for criminal liabilities in the coal blocks allocation scam. PTI reports that a bench comprising justices MB Lokur, Kurian Joseph and AK Sikri rejected the plea of advocate ML Sharma.

He is one of the PIL petitioners, on whose petition the apex court had delivered the landmark verdict holding as illegal the coal blocks allocation since 1993 to 2010 and quashing 214 out of 218 of them.

Besides Dr. Singh, who had held the portfolio during the previous UPA government, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Chief Sibu Soren and Sri Prakash Jaiswal were also coal ministers and the advocate wanted a direction to impose criminal liabilities on them.
The plea also sought action against other political leaders who were allegedly involved in allocation of coal blocks.