The Coal Ministry has not only failed to submit the crucial files relating to the alleged irregular coal block allocations, it is yet to file a formal complaint on the missing files with the CBI even after the two-week deadline set by SC expired on Tuesday.
Although the Coal Ministry claims to have submitted “a substantial number of files” to the investigating agency, it has not provided three crucial files sought by the CBI. These relate to the final minutes of the 26th Screening Committee Meeting (held on May 1, 2005), the CIl Scrutiny Report regarding financial strength of applicant companies, namely JlD Yavatmal Energy ltd (promoted by Congress MP Vijay Darda) and Green Infrastructure ltd; and the draft minutes and amended draft minutes of the 34th Screening Committee Meeting which was held on September 22, 2006.
In the 26th Screening Committee Meeting, guidelines for allocation of coal blocks were formulated. The CIl Scrutiny Report on financial strength of the two applicant companies (JlD Yavatmal and Green Infrastructure) were submitted to the 35th Screening Committee Meeting held on September 13, 2007. Both these companies have been booked by CBI in separate cases as part of the ongoing probe into the alleged irregularities in coal block allocations between 2006 and 2009, a period when the Coal Ministry was under the charge of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
In the 35th Screening Committee Meeting, nearly 50 coal blocks were allocated to about 100 applicant companies, including dubious ones.
In its communication to the CBI, the Coal Ministry has claimed that the minutes of the 35th Screening Committee Meeting included the point that financial viability of applicant firms was to be scrutinised. But details regarding whether actual scrutiny was done, are not available with the ministry, sources said.
“We have prepared a list of documents recovered and have asked the agency to come and collect the same," a Coal Ministry source told The Pioneer. The CBI on its part has said that it is examining Coal Ministry's claims to ascertain the exact number of missing files.
Sources claimed that a majority of files have been recovered from CIl subsidiary Central Mines Planning and Design Institute ltd's (CMPDIl) office in Ranchi and relevant information has been passed on to the CBI.
A source privy to recent developments in the matter said that the Coal Ministry may not file an FIR on its own as it is now claiming to have found a substantial number of files.
Following validation of the Ministry’s claims on the status of requisitioned files, the CBI may conduct searches for retrieving the missing documents and files.On Monday, the Coal Ministry had furnished a status report on the files retrieved and a list of the untraceable files to the CBI.
The agency had requisitioned from the Coal Ministry 29 files/ reports/ documents/ information/clarification from the Coal Ministry on September 2. In addition, the CBI had also sought documents prepared by the Coal Ministry on inter-se merit of the applicant companies as stipulated in the guidelines to facilitate the decision by Screening Committee.