The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday submitted a comprehensive status report in the coal block allocation scam to the Supreme Court giving details of the cases registered by it including the latest FIR naming industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and former Coal Secretary PC Parakh.
The report kept in a sealed cover will be opened in the court on October 29, when the case will come up for hearing. The agency has placed on record the details of investigation conducted till last week and discussed the evidence that led to framing industrialist Birla and the former bureaucrat over allocation of Talabira coal block in Odisha to Hindalco.
The CBI had alleged irregularities in the allocation process after the decision by the Screening Committee to allocate the block to public sector undertakings (PSU) Neyveli lignite Corporation (NlC) and Mahanadi Coalfields limited was overturned at the last minute. Hindalco was added into the joint venture after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the then Coal Minister, directed Coal Ministry to consider a representation received from Birla.
The report holds significance as one of the PIl petitioners has moved a fresh application to know why PM Manmohan Singh has been kept out from the ambit of probe so far. “Then coal Minister is a necessary party to the said alleged conspiracy and is liable to be named in the FIR he being a public servant involved in the decision making process,” said the applicant Ml Sharma.
The application reported that the Screening Committee which met in 2005 disqualified Hindalco for failing to utilize the coal links awarded to it from MCl. After PM forwarded Birla’s representation to the Coal Ministry and the backing of Hindalco by Odisha Chief Minister, the company was awarded a 15 per cent stake in the joint venture by the Ministry throwing to wind the recommendation by Screening Committee.
After the controversy broke out, the office of the Prime Minister issued a response claiming the Talabira allocation was “appropriate”. Even the Odisha Government is expected to file its response with regard to this very same allocation. On the last date of hearing, the SC bench had directed states of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal to explain their role in allocation of coal blocks vis-à-vis the Centre and the steps taken subsequent to allotment of blocks. The states were even asked to file details of agreement entered by the state PSUs with private companies after being allocated coal blocks.