#coal gate

The probe into coal block allocations has been a burning issue not only in Parliament and the apex court but now also within the Central Bureau of Investigation. This time, the heat has been generated within the agency over the need to "examine" Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who held the Coal portfolio between 2006 and 2009.

Top sources told The Indian Express that in the progress report prepared last month, CBI's superintendent of police K R Chaurasia, an investigating officer in the case, put on record what he called the "requirement'' to examine the Prime Minister among a lengthy list of "pending actions'' in the case.

These included examination of various other government and non-government officials as well as exhaustive scrutiny of records.

CBI director Ranjit Sinha has decided to hire a private lawyer to file an affidavit in the Supreme Court on whether government misled the apex court last month by asserting that it did not vet the status report of the agency's investigations into the coal block scam. Talking to TOI, Sinha confirmed his decision to engage a private lawyer, heightening speculation in the Capital about what he may tell the apex court in the affidavit to be filed on April 26. Additional solicitor general Harin Raval had on March 12 surprised many in the court and outside by asserting that CBI had not shared the contents of its status report on the Coalgate scam with the political leadership. "It is meant for the eyes of judges only and the report is a classified document only for apprising the court about the progress in the probe," Raval had told a Supreme Court bench of Justices R M Lodha, J Chelameswar and Madan B Lokur.

Aam Admi Party member and lawyer Prashant Bhushan has moved the Supreme Court seeking an investigation into the coal scam by the Special Investigation Team (SIT). In his plea to the Supreme Court, Bhushan has also asked the court to look into the allegations of governmental interference in the ongoing Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe.

This comes at a time when lawyer ML Sharma has, in a separate plea, asked for the removal of Sriprakash Jaiswal as Coal Minister saying that he could influence the investigation. Sharma had also filed a plea asking for a probe against the government's lawyers, the Additional Solicitor General and the Attorney General.

On Sunday, sources said the CBI will inform the Supreme Court that Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar tried to interfere in its status report on the coal scam. Sources also said the agency will go ahead with its own report and not the one allegedly modified by the Law Minister.

The UPA government could be in for some major embarrassment in the coal blocks allotment scandal as the CBI is learnt to be inclined to inform the Supreme Court that the controversial probe status report it submitted last month had been vetted by Law Minister Ashwani Kumar and Prime Minister's Office officials.

Sources told The Indian Express that senior CBI officials, including director Ranjit Sinha, were summoned by Kumar days before the status report was filed.

During the lengthy meeting, also attended by some officials of the law ministry, several amendments in the status report were suggested and some also incorporated by the CBI.

"We resisted as much as we could, but yes, some toning down was done following the meeting," a CBI officer present at the meeting in Shastri Bhavan said.

Coal India Ltd(CIL) has gone out of its way to sign fuel supply pacts with 11 companies, including alleged Coalgate beneficiaries, even before these firms reached the qualifying milestones such as acquiring land, the state-run monopoly's internal anti-corruption watchdog has said. In a report to thecoal ministry, a copy of which is available with TOI, CIL's CVO (chief vigilance officer)Manoj Kumar said supply pacts for 5,935 mw — or one-and-a-half times of the national capital's daily requirement — have either been inked or cleared for signing in spite of "deficiencies in documents".

The Coalgate scam, which further damaged the anti-corruption credentials of the Congress-led UPA last year, is headed for an interesting twist. The allocation of coal blocks by the government, it seems, may not only have been non-transparent, leading to a loss to the exchequer, but also partly illegal.

Thus far, the main bone of contention was whether the Centre allocated coal blocks fairly and transparently – even if they were allotted free, costing the Centre Rs 1,86,000 crore in lost revenues, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) last year.

But the Supreme Court, which is currently hearing a bunch of public interest litigations (PILs) seeking cancellation of the coal blocks, sprang a surprise yesterday when it suggested that the allocations may, prima facie, be of doubtful legality.

The government today said states being allotted coal blocks for mining will have to introduce a mechanism for regular monitoring of mines and submit to it quarterly reports on the status of their development.

"The concerned State Government shall institute a mechanism, including regular physical inspections, to ensure regular monitoring of development of the coal blocks as per the milestones and submit quarterly reports to the Ministry of Coal or an agency authorised by it," according to an official Memorandum.

"This shall be in addition to any monitoring/inspection by the Ministry of Coal or an agency authorised by it," said the memorandum describing the draft terms and conditions for allocation of area containing coal to government companies for mining and specified end use. The move is a step towards tightening the norms on the firms that sit idle on the coal blocks allocated to them for captive use.

Winding up the exercise of scrutiny of mines allotted to PSUs which failed to develop coal mines within stipulated the time frame, the Inter-Ministerial panel on coal blocks today recommended de-allocation of three more blocks.

“The IMG has recommended de-allocation of three blocks today including one alloted to Jharkhand State Mineral Development Corporation (JSMDC),” a source close to the development told PTI.

However, the names of other two blocks could not be obtained. It reviewed 14 cases today in a marathon meeting, which lasted for over six hours. With today’s development the number of cases recommended for cancellation of mines to PSUs has risen to 11.