NEW DELHI — Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a wise man, but in recent times no one in India has called him a “competent authority.” Yet, that expression, mentioned in a preliminary report by the Central Bureau of Investigation that formally opened a police inquiry, inspired a consensus in the news media that Mr. Singh was indeed the unnamed “authority” in question. Connect With Us on Twitter Follow @nytimesworld for international breaking news and headlines. Twitter List: Reporters and Editors The report was a part of the bureau’s examination of the government’s allocation of the country’s coal deposits to private corporations between 2004 and 2009. Among those whose roles the bureau is…