block allocations since 1993

WIDENING PROBE
CBI to investigate all coal
block allocations since 1993
many cases 0! malpractice
while allocating coat blocks
betweetu 1993 to 2004, Funher,
In many cases whecc join teenhave been furrne d be-
testes
eween state government rorporat' ona and private parties
there It informaeion that many
of these were done through favours to certain parties and
under 1>5)11 teat pressure and
due diligence wat
in selection of
The agency says at
50 additlonal
least
state
nor
since 1993 thosttd be investithe CIII specially
by
looking
at
&
wlttrh
(Cal). which
is probing alleged irregularities in oh c atlocacithi of
coal blocks to private co{atpa-
to
companies
that
allotied blocks
in 1993.
The CDI said at least 50 additional companies could be
probed
as pare of the widened
follows
Commisason
the
Monday forwarding
a teeter written by seven partianaenrariana demanding an Investigation
of all coal block atlocatiotis ainee 0993
to the
CR!.
gress
-
tcI'MG itt India,
Under SCuthr. AceordtnQ
allocated between 10
to
Attguoi
infoomoijon
toooifoble on tho cool nit
1.993and 6 December 20(15.
2004 be investigated.
That would cover the coal'
fields allocated in 1998-2004,
when the Bharari ya Jan ala Party-ltd
party
the Con-
lok Sabba
mem-
bers
Sandeep Dikshie, Hatish
Chaudhttry,
tavneet Shagta,
ChOudttary t,at Singts, Manicka
Tagore and Raghuvir Singh
Meena weote to the eve and
the coal ministry thai 'locks
allotted between
1993
and
companies
may have been favoured undet
political
presanre
Arvittd Mahalan, a parinera
strys'enile, (i
coat Macb
were
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was in power,
and in 1996'O$, when a coali
tion called the United Front
culed the country, The Con'
gross party lost the 1996 general election and returned to
POWet itt 2004.
Coat block allocations
made
doritag tOte rule oF the Con
led United Progreta-party
greaaive Alliance (UPA)
have
been under scrutin ysince the
Comptroller and Auditor
General oilntlta said in are portreleased in August that auclialorations had caused lie iiiexrhequerabaa of lBe
teillro n.
tional
We have received a lelter
from the (NC today IMoladay)
aakitg us to probe allocation
of coal block a since 1993, a
senior Cl3l official said on con
Is
saul the perthat the lark ol
transparency was
higher in the
period of allocation.
'So, atthoetgh the net mbcr of
lutocks altpcated nay tled be as
many an In the later period, the
level nf processing was not an
earlier
on
dunn of anonymity, Withtn a
wilt register a fresh
PE (preliminat-y enquiry) and
start investigation. This wit' go
side by aide with the current
week, we
investlgation into seven FIRs
(first information reports) registeted by us iii ens) altocalons tnade berseeen 20{16 and
2009
Another CRC oflictal tntle
pendensty conftxnteci the de
veiopment.
Jr appears that there were
aa in the later period. It
only after Ihe El ectrictly
Ace of 2tttta that lice power eec,
leigh
was
'or
caw private sector interest,
Coal proresa
only
A
too
speaking ott
-
rondinon of 'no
said that a copy of the
letter had beet, forwarded to
the miniatry, which, in turn,
nymily,
more
sod cheating had been rs'gisrere d against Viol Iron and
Steel tidyog Lid, lasinfrastruc
Capital Psi.
AMR iron
and Steels Psa.
Ltd. Ill) Yavat.
mal itotergy Lid,
lure
Navahba,ai
op
ova
were
Power
Fyl. Lid,
aunitofthe Es
tar
Group,
lodus
tries and Vikash Metal and
Power Ltd. The
among compsole a
allotted coal blocks
Grace
that were
during 2006.09, when ttrime
Minister Manmohan
Singh
also held charge of the coat
rflinlstty
Ttae g overntnent has already
cancelled at least seven coal
block allocations on grounds
of
non-performance
and
could cancel the allocations of
as many as six others. on the
basis
of
recommends tions
made by an inter, osinistetial
group (IMG) that is looking
lie isaste.
The IMG is set
tab
have gone op
then,' he eaid.
nitnistry official,
rod
etnce
lop
Iwo
Cases of criminal conspiracy
non-performance
leged
ceptlon
against
cornpnies,
grounds of
alThey
that aotnr
been
September,
raids in II cities. On 22
the agency regis-
cases
cancelled at least 7
fonearded to
govecnnaene
of India.'
starting
Ott 5
tered
block allocations
they
names
tigatinn
Central Vigilance
whose
nice
between 200g and 2009
said it would extend oh einves-
iits/esolgatlon.
The decision
state
c otnpa-
vate
niet
(cVC)
ducted
The govt has
governmenle
priselected
Central Bureau of In..
ssextigaoion
have
panies
Liii,
through
Tie
1993 and 6 December 2005 69
coal blocks were allocated.
On 4 September the Cot
booked rates against five com-
iyatenia
New tiTList
on 19
September,
gated
By SAHIL MAKKAR
AMAN MALIK
eve
information
available on the coal ministry's
website,
between
0 August
to
by
corpora-
the letter written by the
Congress
partiansenearian
aaid. 'Ct, therefore, appears
that alt coal blocks allotted
the investigation
the
sent to
According
lot isepected irregularities in tho conteoreraisi at location of dial blocks and con-
ejotta,'
companies could be
probed as part of
been
September.
followed
partners
government
?'
to fleet
again
In the second week of October
to decide on tha fate of blocks
allotted to goveromeot'owned
otnpan
itletit
its where no develop'
has taken place so far.
sa/lil.m@s/ivemiet,cora
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NIN9T
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9NTRI[4ST*I
Arrested IT Officer Colluded With.
Abhishek Verma To Buy Goa Property
CBI
finds web of cos through which Verma holds a beneficial interest
in Nitya
-
Resorts
in Mumbai, along with arms deal
According to a person familiar
agency already knew most of the
SRUTHIJITH KIC
er Suresh Nanda, his son Sanjeev
with the investigation, the CIII has
details in Allen's communications.
DELHI
NEW
LL-.iLi
Nanda, and their chartered ac
now found a web of companies in
Ashutosh Verma, the I-T official,
A senior income-tax department
Bipin
countant
Shah. Verma was
Delhi Kolkata and Agra through
was introduced to Edmonds Allen
officer, arrested by the Central Bwr b.andllng
the Income-Tax depart
which, Ashotosh Verma holds aby
Abhishek.
Ashutosh Verma
reau of Investigation in 2008 for al
ment's case against the Nandas,
beneficial interest in a company wanted to setup a company in the
legedly accepting a bribe from
who were at the time being probed TalledNltya
subsidiary
US as a
of the Indian
ResortsPvtLtd,which
arms dealer Suresh Nanda, used by the CIII for bribing government
owns a large beachfront plot in
company Geiper Consultmg FyI
his links with jailed defence
agent officials and accepting commis
Morjlm, Goa, estimated to be now Ltd to help the latter avoid tax. His
Abhishek Verma to set up a compa
slons in the sale of Barak missiles
worth more than !15 crore. Verma
wife Pallavi Verma andfatherRam
ny overseas and used a network of
and Armoured Recovery Vehicles
alsopurchaseda2-bedroomviilajn
Naval Verma are 100% shareholcompanies to invest in property in
to India. cm intercepted phone
Goa in the name of his father, the
Consulting, a
ders in Gelper
Goa, a person familiar with the in
conversations that led them to be
person said.!
knowledge
process outsourcmg
vestigation said.
lieve that Verma was being bribed
Many of Verma's buslneEg*tt4r
-.
company, accordmg to filings with
Armed with the breakthrough in
by the Nandas to fudge entries in—ests were revealed by New YoFk
the Registrar of Companies.
four-year-old
the
case, this person their books that were in the IT de
based attorney c Edmon4s Allen;
A trail of email exchanges besaid the agency Is now moving to
partment's possession.
erstwhile_business
the
partner of tween Ashutosh, Abhlshek and Alfile a charge sheet. Earlier this
Out on bail after spending eight
jailed defence agentAbhlshekVer
len show that Ashutosh wanted to
month, the CBI sought the finance
months in jail in 2008, Ashutosh
ma. The dossiers of evidence sent set up aUS subsidiary for Geiper
mInistry'
sanction to prosecute
Vermawas reinstatedtoser-vice as
by Allen to! Indian authorities
Consultinginordertoavoidpaylng
Ashutosh Verma, a joint cominis
the CIII failed to file a chargesheet
helped Initiate a CIII probe against
a highamountof taxfor remunerasioner in the I-Tdepartment,
in the case. The agency could nel
Abhishek Verma on charges of
tion paid to the company's agent,
Verma, a 1999-batch Indian Reve ther establish a money frail
forgery bribing of a public official
nor
one Sanjay Pant, in the US, and
nue Serviceofficer, was arrested in
parked
discover where Verma had
and violation of the Official Se
route business to the Indian entity
March2008 from .1W Marriot Hotel
alleged
the
bribe.
crets Act. A CIII official said the through the US firm.
- -
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4
THE ASHOK AGGARWAL
SAGA MOVES ON
officer Äshok Aggarwal first made die newspaheadlines in 1999 with the arrest of the arms dealer
The IRS
per
and jet-setting Delbi socialite Abhishek Verma, i son of
the Raiya Sabhci MP Veena Varma, for tryiig ta trap a
Delhi jeweller
Subhash
Barjatya in a Forelgn Exchange
Regulation Act case. Allegedly Aggarwal bad attempted
to extort Rs 10 million from one of die owners of Dabur
Industries.
A
Dabur owner had videotaped Aggarwal's
men collecting the money.
In 2002,
wal'
after
die finance rhinistry
die
faces
prosecution,
first, Aggarwal
allegations In a FERA case
part of a criminal conspiracy
basis of forged Swiss
CRI alleged that the
tionate
die
CBI
sonctioned
Agar-
CRI charged hirn in two cases. In the
Bank
documents.
IRS officer
assefl to the tune
of
bus alleged that
the
of being
t
blackmail Barjatya
on the
die
In tbc second,
had arnassed dispropor-
Rs 1 2.04 crore. In die case,
accused
official entered
into
o crirninal conspiracy with bis twa brothers and some char-
tered accountants
and amassed huge wealih und assets
dlspropgrtionate to his known sources of income.
The CRI has alleged that Aggarwal Inested In properGhazidbad, Bahadurgarh and die World Trade
ties In
Centre
in the capital in
several trusts whose
die name of
bis wife
beneficiaries were
und created
bis minor children.
The CRI had arrested Aggarwal an 19 October
along with
bis
portionate
assets. He is
ments
brotber
for allegedly
2000
omassing dispra-
alleged ta own about 20 apart-
und bungalows in Delhi, at least twa comrnercial
»
office premises in die World Trade Tower, New Dcliii, und
numerous other properties. Despite severat complalnts
-
agaiS hirn, Aggarwal was appointed private secretary
by Rairam Singh Yadav, die minister for mines in die 1' V
Narasimha Rao government.
-
Probe coal block-allocation
since 1993, CVC tells CBI
NEW DELHI:
The Central Vig-unknown officials
ilanceCommission(CVC)on
Monday asked the CIII, prob
ing
coal block allocations
made during 2006-09, to ex
tend its investigations to cover
all allocations
made
since
1993, saidagencysources.
The country's top anti-cor
had already
tasked the CBI with probe into
ruption authority
the
allotment of coal blocks
between
made
2006
and
2009.
..
-
- _ - -- - - - - - \'
'
-_
j.
A'
-:
-'.
:
.i'
%: "
CVC
asked that the
"
,
:
c
j-'
,
-',--'
L
"The
,
,
agency investigate the system
estimated undue benefits
adopted bystate governments
R5,1.86 lakh crore to private
during
firms due to allocation of coal
blocks without auction.
allocation
of
coal
blocks. The criteriaand select
of
ed guidelines followed during
the
allocation
be
Probe in offshore mining
Meanwhile, the CBI has also
agency
begunprobing alleged irregu
must
probed' a source added.
The investigation
firstr
was
larities in the country's
tion of companies
ever attempt to explore un
tapped mineral wealth worth
also asked to find out the
system put in place for selec
for
coal
block al!ocation between 1993
to
2006, whether these guide
lines were
followed and
how
jointventure partners were se
lected.
thousands of crores lying in
the deep sea bed, sensing an
other mega scam,
CBI sources
said a
prelimi
an Bureau
of
of the mdi-
Mines while
licences for exploring minerals in the sea bed of
awarding
Bay of Bengal and Arabian
sea.
Itis alleged
that four benefi-
ciaries companies owned by
the family members of an mdi-
an Revenue Service officer are
also under the agency's scanncr as they bagged nearly half
of the blocks despite lacking
necessary qualification,
they
said.
The sources said in March
last year, the government, in a
first attempt to explore offshore
mineral wealth,
had
placed 62blocks on offer out of
which 28, nearly half, were
bagged by companies owned
by family members of the former Enforcement Directorate
also served in
official who had
Mines Ministry.
The final
award of licences
had been put on hold after aggrieved parties approached
the Bombay High Court and
nary enquiry has been regis
the
Court seeking their cancella-
troller and Auditor General
tered by the agency in connec
tion with the alleged favours
(CAG) had, in a recent report,
extended to the companies by
Agencies
Official auditor,
the Comp
Andhra Pradesh
tion.
High
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CBI probes offshore
mining licence scam
P11 .NewDeIhi
Just a week after filing cases in
coal block allocation scam,
CBI has begim probing alleged
irregularities in the country's
first-ever attempt to explore
untapped mineral wealth
worth thousands ofcrores
lying In the deep sea bed,
sensing another mega scam.
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Probe all coal block
a llotments since
1993, CVC tells CBI:
LENS ON NDA GOVT
Directive after Jaiswal,
7 MPs wrotetoCVc
Arbitrary'grant of
62 offshore mines"
under scanner
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER24
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
ACliNG
on a Central Vigilance Corn-
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER24
mission (CVC) reference, the CDI has
decided to
expand its probe into the
SUSPECHNG serious
irregularities, the CBI
alleged irregnlarities incoal blocks ãotment to
has registered a preliminary enquiry into the
include all allotments made
allotment of62offhoremining blocks by the In-
since 1993.
The ongoing CDI probe was restricted to allotments during 2006-09. CDI officials said the
of
Mines (IBM) last year.
The al-
lotments made to 16 companies for grant of
preliminary en-
the offshore explorationlicences was done in an
(PE) on the CVC reference received
"arbitrary" manner by the IBM, says the FE
agency would soon register a
quiry
dian Bureau
Monday, and question government officials
and private firms which got coal blocks.
Last week, Coal Minister Sriprakash
registered last Friday.
The CBI suspects the
16 companies selected
did not have the required technical capability
Jaiswal wrote to the CVC seeking a CR1 probe
and amajorityof them were registered and incor-
into all
porated afterthe
coal blocks allotted since 1993 when
the government began allotting blocks to pri-
vate players for captive use.
Jaiswal also recently forwarded a letter
written by seven MPs to the CVC saying
blocks allotted between 1993 and 2004 should
be investigated by the CBI as favours were atlegedly done
to private parties under political
in June2010.The FE also alleges that
there had been "cartelisation" in the process.
CBI officers said
tion
the cart elisation allega-
referred to a group of five companies
which had bagged 28 of the 62 oil exploration
blocks andwere ownedbyimmediate relatives
of a suspended Indian Revenue
officer against whom
pressure.
The MPs' letter also sought an inquiry into
the system put
IBM issued its notificationfor
allocation
in place to
select companies for
the
Service (IRS)
CBI has
registered
other cases.
"Many of the selected companies have
allotment between 1993 and 2004 andwhether
shown themselves as a part
these guidelines were followed. The CVC
panies
Monday referred the complaints to the CDI.
wereregistered at the same address which also
The
allotment of coal blocks for
of a group of com-
promoted by the same directors
and
captive
points towards applicants having resorted to
use started in 1993 to attract private invest-
cartelisation to corner most of the exploration
ments in power, cement and steel to help a
blocks," says the FE registered against un-
growing economy.
known
"Till March 2011, the Ministryof Coal has
public servants of IBM and other un-
known persons/companies.
allocated 194 coal blocks for captive miningof
which 142 were explored blocks,"
in its report on
the allotments.
the CAG said
I1MINES SECRETARYJUMPS GUN ON GOA
REPORT, IS SHOWN THE DOOR, PAGE 16
'Rahul case based on
a non-existent claim'
EXPRESS
NEWS SERVICE
Aichilesh Yadav and SP chief
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER24
Mulayam Singh Yadav.
CONGRESS
elled
The allegation was not levleader Rahul
before the HC and its
Monday told the SC
"object was to scandalise the
that the allegation of his role in
issuesoastogaincheappublic-
Gandhi
an abduction and rape case in
ity and to advance his political
Amethi was "sinister political
objectives", the affidavit said.
mudslinging".
The CBI also
"It is a clëarcase ofsinister
political mudslinging and contempt
of process ofcourt. Such
a petition deserves to be dismissed
ried
out as per the HC order.
The CBI told the court that the
case of alleged ifiegal confine-
and
ment of the girl and her parents
Allahabad I-IC order
was found to be based on "non-
with cost only
hence the
adduced its
report of its investigation,car-
imposing a cost on the petitionerwas correct," senior ad-
existent"
vocate PP Rao, appearing for
personswerefalse.
Rahul,toldthecourt.
claims
since the
names and addresses of these
Samfunded by
The CBI also said
Rao said the petitioner,
rite's
petition was
the webwhich Samrite relied on
formerSP MLA Kishore Sam-
"some others". It said
rite,was neither afriend of the
sites
victimnoiarelative.
Meanwhile, the
and for filing his petition were
forinformationontheincident
UP gov-
ernment also filed its affidavit
located outside the geographi-
refuting Sanirite's charge that
caltenitoryofthecountiy.
he had filed the case against
Rahul at
tk behest
of CM
The court will continue to
hear the matter tomorrow.
CBI begins probe :
into 'sea-bed
press
thast of India
NEWDEWJ, 24 SEfl:Just aweek
Aer filing cases in the coal block
ilocation scam, the CBI has
begun prthing alleged irregularilies in the country's first-ever
attempt
to explore untapped
SneraFwSth worth thousands
crorcs Iing in the deep sea.
bed, sensing another mega scam.
Cs! sourcçs said a preliminary
inquhy has been registered by
the agency in connection with
the alleged favours extended to
the companies by the unknown
Slicials of the Indian Bureau of
limes while awarding licences
fir exploring minerals in the sea
bed of the Bay of Bengal and the
Arabian Sea.
It is alleged, hir benefidazies
immpanies owned by the family
members of an Indian Revenue
StMce officer are also under the
scanney as they bagged
andy half of the blocks despite
beking necessary qualification,
they Slid.
The sources said in March lasi
the government, in a first
tai
*empt to expIoreohore mini
aal wealth, had placed 62 blocks
cm oflèr out of which 28, nearly
halt were
bagged by comjaI*s
owned by-family members of the
krmer Enforcement Dhtctojate
.411d4 who had alsb'served hr
1k Mines Ministzy.
The final atrd oflicenceshad
ken put on hold after aggrieved
CM sources said a
miiiij
pre1iminiriinqijjrhabejj
initiated by the agency in connectionwith the
alleged favours extended to the companies by
the unknown officials of the Indian Bureau of'
Mines while awarding licetices for exploring for
minerals th the seabeds of the Bayof Bengal aid
theArabjansej
parties
approached Bombay
High Court and Andhra Pradesh
High Court seeking their cancel-
Mines; had announced in March
last tar the list of companies
lation.
The companies
allegedly
owned by the son and the brotha
of the officer are based at the
ratidn of mineral wealth.
same
address
Kasturba
Gandhi Marg In New Delhi, they
said.
on
It is alleged that companies
were incwporated after bids
were invited from the interes(ed
parties willing to go fix exploration and thØ not have any experience in SPshore mining at the
time of notification.
The .Cfll
sources sal it is a matter of
probe how these companies with
such alleged lacunae managed to
score over Sal firms which were
in fray for the lucrative contracts.
According to sources, it has
been alleged that at tle screening
committee level, the companies'
belonging to the kin of the officer
scored much above the rival
" Indian &ucau of Mines,
th
works under the Ministry of
that had swm the bids of explo-
--
Howevet the Nagpur Bench of
Bombay High Court had stayed
the
exten
Jon after accepting the
plea of the Tamil Nadu-based
company Rare (H) minerals.
"Controller General, Indian
Bureau of Mines, has issued a
notification dated 7th June, 2010
inviting applications r the grant
of Exploration licence in the offshore areas of the country.
Around 377 applications have
been received in IBM for grant of
exploration licene,7 the Ministry
of Mines had said in a statement
last yeait The sources said that
each block measuring about 800
sq km is estimated to have huge
unexplored mineralwealth in the
sea bed of the Bay of Bengal and
theArabianSca.
A similar case is also going on
in Andhra Pradesh High Court
after a company, Trimex Sands,
challenged the award of exploratiOn licence.
-
-
Ccalgate: probe
ambit expands
CET to sean block allocations sinée 1993
PBD BUREAU/PTI
block
allocation
between
1993 to
ançt whether these guidelines
were followed and how were joint
2004
NEW DELHI, SEPT24
venture partners selected.
ThE' CBI has decided to expand
The
its
\.,,probe into 'coalgate bringing under
its
today referred
CVC
scanner all coal block allocations
áince 1993 including the six-
qttei and
the agency will soon
made
begin its investigation on it,
after a reference in'
this regard was received from the
CVC today.
Last week, Coal Minister Shri
Prakash Jaiswal 'wrote to
CePtral ,
Vigilance
Commission seeking a CBI
sources said:
year NDA rule
The
-
for
started in
tecently
was
2004
with
fled end
the
uses such as power,
steel because of
growing economy.
-
In
ongoing
its
has so
probe, C
registered
rnnii
FIR
includirik
-
1973
cethent and
--
under scanper._
leUei written by seven
$rliamentarians to the CVC saying that blocks allotted
between
and
Mines
objective of attracting private! investments !in sped-
Warded -a
1993
amended
Offsbireminliig lkences.
for
blocks to
1993 when Coal
Pag. 6
Seeking theCBI
probe; Jaiswal has
of thai
(Ntionalisation) Act,
captive
use.
also
allocation
(ill
private companies for captive use
probe into all the
coal
blocks allocated since 1993
when
Government 'had
started allocation to private
players
the
complaints to the CBl to probe the
against private
companies
unknown
far
seven.
public
and
'officials
for
alleged misrepresentation of facts.
!Till March 2011, the Ministry
be investigated by the CDI,
as
allegedly favours were done
of Coal has allocated 194 coal
blocks for captive mining of
which 142 were explored blocks
'and the balance 52 were either
parties under political pressure.
regionally
explored
plored
b!ocks,a
given during the
NDA
those
rule should
to
The letter of
enquiry as
to
MPs also sought for
what system
the
Government of India put in place
for ielectibn of companies
coal
for
-
coal
or
j.inex-
Comptroller
and Auditor General
its recent repQrt on
allocation.
has said in
coal
-
block,
SajIanS
"
questions
witness's
condütt
PBD BUREAIJ,'T'D
NEW DELHI, SE!T 24
CDNGIkFSS leader Sajjan
Kumathcingtriajina 1984
anti-SUch riots case,
tollay
questioned the conduct of
cón*
tlflWcturt here that
sh didrt
tell an9 authority fti22 years aboufher not"
the key witness and
pith
having faith in the Delhi
Police probe.
the
Continuing
finaJ
arguments. in the case,
Kumars counsel RI Khan
told District Judge JRAiyan
that complainant Jagdish
Kaux, who had lost five of
her family members during
the riots, first did
çtot coop-.
erate s1th the Delhi Polics
probe for Over two decades
and later, in 2006, she
explained her non-coopera-
tion as
lack of
faith
the
in
probe agency'
Delhi police
probed the
The
earlier
had
riots
'cases and the investigation
was handed over to CBI in
-
2(05.
"Summons were dent to
Kaur
in
police
i
Punjab by the
2CO3 and
2004
requesting her to join the
probe and br recording of
her statement
CrPC but
under
164
she refused
to
"cooperate.
"After 22 years, in
2(06
this for the
firstthnebeforeCBlthatshe-
she had stated
had it faith in the Delhi
Rlice and that is why she
had not cooperated with lis
(police)
prole7
Khan
argued Xhan said Kaur had
several ocrasions but never
this fact before the
Justice C T Nanavati and
Justice Ranganath MWira
Commissions and for the
first time in 2(06 she said it
in Cars office that she had
stated
no
faitl1 in the police prnbe.
CIII stártsprobin
offshore th!nerái
mining licences
ABHISHEKSHIJKLA
The
NEW DELHI, SEPT24
JUST a
allocation scam,
CBI
begun probing alleged
irregularities in the country's
has
first-ever attempt to explore
untapped mineral wealth worth
thousands of crores lying in the
deep sea bed, sensing another
mega scam.
CBI sourèes said a prelimi-
nary
tered
enquiry has been regisby the agency in corinecwith the alleged
tion
the son
favours
extended to the companies by
the unknown officials of the
'Indian Bureau
Candhj
Marg in the national
It is alleged
that companies
were incorporated after bids
were invited from the interested
parties ivilling to go for explo-
ration
and
have any
did not
experierce in offshqre mining
at the lime of notification.
The CBI sources said it is a
matter of probe how these cor
1
panies 'vyith such allged
nae managed
to score over rival
in fray for the
lucrative contracts.
for
at
that
es
screen-
committee
level th? coming
erals in the sea
becl'of Bay of
Bengal
an4
Arabian Sea.
-
panies
belong-
ing to the kin
It is alleged
of 'the
officer
scored
much
four beneficiar-
above
ies companies
firms
by
ut re
So
claimed it has
alleged
been
exploring min-
family
law-
firms which were
awarding
owned
brother
capital, they said.
of Mines while
licences
allegedly
and
of the officer are based at the
same address
ICasturba
on
week after filing cses in
coal block
companies
owned by
the
of an Indian Revenue
Service officer are also under
the agency's scanner as they
bagged nearly half of the blocks
bers'
despite lacking necessary qualification, they said,
The sources said in Marchlast year Govemment, in a first
to explore offshore
mineral wealth, had placed 62
blocks on offer out of which 28,
attempt
nearly half, were
bagged
by'
rival
n d ia n
.I
-
mem-
the
-
Bureau
-of
Mines, which works under the
of
Ministry
had
Mines,
announced
the
March
in
last
year
had
exploration of
list of companies
won the bids of
that
mineral wealth
However,
the Nagur
of the Bombay High
stayed
the
execution
accepting the
Nadu
bench
Court had
after
plea. of Tamil
based thmjanyRe (H)
minerals.
companies owned !y family
members,
of
the
former
Bureau
Enforcement Directorate
official
notification dated 7th June, 2010
served in Mines
inviting applications for the
grant of Exploration Licence in
the offshore areas of the coun-
who
alscx
had
Ministry.
The
'had
final
award, of licenes
en,put on
aggrieved
hold
after
parties approached
"Controller GeneraL Indian
try.
of Mines has, issued
a
377 applications
received
in
IBM
have
been
for
grant of
licence,
the
the Bombay High Court and the
exploratien
Andhra Pradesh High
Ministry of Mines had said in a
seeking their
iiL
ic
Court
cancellation,'
statement last year.
-
Case against
Rahul based
on
'non-existent'
claims: CBI
!BD
BUREAU/PU
NEW DELHi, SEPT24
CDI today
told the
Court that the case
Supreme
of alleged
illegal cbnfinemont of a girl in
Rahut Gandhi's name
which
was dragged was found tq be
based op non-existent claims.
'Additional Solicitor General.
l-aren RayaL who placed the
status report of a Cifi probe in a
sealed cove4 said the address
and
naites of
the persons,
including that of the girt, were
"non-existent".
-
"On verification from various
government authorities, includ-
the nagar panchâyaf and
district food and civil supplier
inspector, it was confirmed that
dog
there
was
no such address
the writ petition)
(mentioned in
and
there exists no record of
such persons existing," tie said.
The agency also said that
habeas corpus petition filed by
On verifucatio, fron
various government
authorities. including the
naga panchayat and dh
trict food and civil supplies
inspector, it was
confirmed that there
waS
po such address anth
there exists no record of
such persons
existing,
former Samajwacli l'arty MLA.
from Madhya Pradesh Kishore.
Samrite, seeking a direction. ir
producing the girt and her parents, Was funded by
'some othand his statements have
been recorded in this egard.
CE! made these suhmissions
before a bench comprising jus
ers
-
tices PS çhauhan and Sthtanter
which was hearing a
Kuniar,
pdtition filed by a Eormer MLA
challenging Re 50 lakh fine
imposed
Sn
by
him
the
High
Allahabad
Court
for
.
approaching
it
with these alle-
gations.
-
The High Court on March 7,
2011 had also directed the CE!
register
to
a
case against
Samrite and to find
out 'as to.
under
what circumstances the
P1 was filed.
The apex court bench noted
th't there were two identical
petitions in the high Court and
in both of them the petitioners
were not the next friend or
acquaintances
family.
of the
victims
He said another i4entical
petition was 'filed in the High
Court and the police had located the persons
named
as.
alleged victim, who had record-
- -
ed theirstatement
incident.
denying the
-
takes additional éháigédf
R4ilways
i".
cgCPJoshi
,t
I
,
.-
PBD BUREAU
Jcey infrastructure ministry
NEW DELHI, SEPT24
has returned to th
Congress after-V long years.
Transport
Mi
Works on railway ove;
bridges nd under bridges
will be expedited for safety
nister Cl' Joshi on
Monday took addi
as well as faster movement
ofthe trains across, the coun-
tiosl
try Joshi said.
Joshi who is 'also Minister for Road Transport and
ROAD
and
Highways
charge of the
railway ministry fol
lowing
the exit
Trinarjiool
gress'
Mukul
Joshi
is
I3hilwara
Road Transport and Highways
with
RaiIay offidal,
Minister CP joshi during
-
a
meebng
--
in New Delhi —PT! Siom
Rajasthai.
Roy,
ML'
from
'I
':
Though this
only
of
'Con
in
is'
an additional
charge for Joshi, the
Highways took over additional chare of the Ministry
of Railways, here today
He Wa Member oL Parl
iament from Bhilwara Lok
Sabha Constituency in' Ra},
asthan. Earlier he
also
held
the portfolio of Rural Dcv
e1oiment & Panchaati Raj
fri the Union Ministry. He
took additional charge followingthe
exit of Tnitiarnool
Congress Mukul Roy.
Thoub this i only an
additional charge for Joshi,
key
the
infrastructure
ministry has returned
to
the Congress alter 17 long
years. CIC
Jaffer
Sharief
was the last railway ministe
from
the
Congres
199-95).
Aftr taking charàe, Joshi
jointh' met officials ofR9ad
Transport, Highways and
Railways to expedite wprks
on
RoBs and RuBs.
Cong dOes not want
truth to come out in
oa1 allocations: BJP
PBD BUREAU/PTI
today shid it has no réser-
BJP
vations
NFW DEIRL, SEPT14
on
the CVC's
order
aslcingCrntoprobecoalanoca-
tions
1993
onwards
and
alleged.this was a 'delayirtg tactic" of Congress as it
does not
waIt truth to tome out.
twe are not worded about the
çvc
asking the CW
to probe coal block allocations froth 1993 as the NDA
has nothing to hide. The issue here is who is bringing
in the 1993 period and why. It is the Congress
which
has ben demanding this as it wants to4elay
everything, BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told VU.
BJP spokesperson maintained
The
that as per the
Comptroller and Auditor Generél, 2004 is the benchmark
for
CAG
the new developments in coal mining. "The
has
increised
in
2004.
Act, 2003
explained that
phenomenally
global prices
of
coal
The Electricity
also
increased
coal prices as private play-
ers were allowed
to participate in power generatioh.
The UT'A
should
Government decided 'Id
be competitive
2004
that there
bidding in coal mining,"
Javadekar said.
The flJP leader alleged
that CBI is being "used,
abused and misused" by the
Government
and
this
move is aimed at diverting attention from the scams
and corruption of the UPA regime. "In 1993, a
Congress Government was in power. Then governments of llCCujral and Deve Gowda, both supported
by the Congress, came to power,' Javadekar said, reiterating
thathis party
has no issues with the period to
be probed.
'The point
here is
from
when the issue should be
investigated. You can eVen start
°!p 1976 when
nationalised coal miçiing or from the
17th century when coal mining started. This Id just a
delaying tactic," he added.
Indira Gandhi
Govt seeks more from SC
PBD BUREAU/I'll
NEW DELHI. SEPT 24.
is
in
toutñ
terminated
the
Salems
extraditibn
Court
Supreme
upheld the order of a
the ground that
on
with
Portuguese authorities to
the next course of
the Abu Salen-i case
chalk Dut
action in
after
the top court
ugal upheld
tradition
ho
in Port-
quashing of ex-
of the gangster w-
was brought nearly seven
the Supreme
years back,
informed today.
before
a
headed by Justice P
Court was
Aearing
bench
Sathasivam, Attorney General CE Vahanwati sought
had
violated
of the
At
extradition treaty
The
bench had
the' C$I and
the Ministry of External
Affairs to file their replies to
Salem's plea for quashing
crimiral cases against him
termination
extradition
and
of
his
also asked
Attorney General
assist it
the
Salem, currently lodged
Arthdr
India
time
of
extradition,
had
assured
Portugal that no charges
attracting death penalty or.
imprisonment
than
25
of
more
would be
years
pressed against him, but
such charges were, laler
roughtin.
Delhi
"Police
in deciding the case.
in Murnbafs
court there.
Salems
earlier asked
after
Portugal
lower
the provisions
,
and
Mumbai
had slapped charges
which invoke death peialty
Road
against him leaving the gov-
filed the applicathe apex court after
ernment and the Clii redfaced.
more time to decide on the
JaiL
had
after a Portuguese
tion
in
action
Salem case
court
India
INDIA
b.
in
Coal block probe to include 1
United Front, NDA regimes
fe Bureau
NewDeIhi,Sept24
/
Istry's advice, the Central
ernrnents also for the a!
Vigilance
leged irregularities In the
Commission
(CVC) on Monday referred
THE
goverrnnent hasall these allocations to the
widened
the scope of
the Central Bureau
CBI for probe. This is seen
allocation of
2009 to the CBI.
Out
of
these
195 coal
blocks referred by the CVC
blocks,
Earlier, acting on a corn
to the CM, around 40 coal
plaint by BJP MP Hansraj
blocks were allocated dur-
as a strategic rnove by the
Ahir, the CVC had recorn
ing
of Investigation(CBJ)probe
ruling
rnended
ernrnent between 1999 and
into captive coalbiock allot
blameto non-Congress
coalition
to
shift
gov
rnade
the
allocations
between
2006
and
the BJP-led
2004.
Companies
mentbyincludingallalloca
Jindal
dons
Bhushan Power
rnade
between
1993
and 2009. This rneans that a
total of 195 allocations will
be probed
NDA gov-
Steel
such as
and
Power,
and Steel,
GVK Power and Usha Mar-
tin got
by the agency
coal
blocks
during
the NDA regirne.
against 64 currently under
"After receiving a letter
investigation and these in-
from the coal ministry, the
dude
allocations
the
since
Rao
PV
government
cluding
rnade
CVC has referred the alloca-
Narasirnha
and
tion
in-
of
195 captive
coal
blocks made since 1993 to
the United Front
the CBI. The CM
wifi be
and NDA governments, be-
probing
sides UPA-! and IJPA-ll,
coal block allocations," a
According
acting
on the
to
sources,
coal
irregularities
in
coal ministry official said.
min-
.Continued on Page2
Coal block...
C?'There have beenanegations
method was
followed
thatno transparent
in allocating captive coal
blocks and favours weregiven to privatefirms. The
CBI, already probIng 142 companies that
were a]locatedcoalblocks,wfflnowbepmbingancompajijes
which have been
allocated coal blocks
since 1993,"
the officer added.
Against the backdrop ofthe Comptroll
ditor General report that said that private compaflies made wind
hilgains of tl.B6lalth ciore through
allocation of captive mines between 2004 and 2009,
the inter-ministerial group (1MG) headed bya coal
ministry official and with members from the finance,lawandpowerminjstrleslsreviewingthede.
lay In development of coal blocks allocated to pri-
vate
firms. The 1MG has already recommended
deallocation of l3blocksandhassougfitdecjuctlon
of bank guarantees In the case of 14 others.
The CBI In its probe has already booked
seven
private firms and their directors for misrepresenting
facts
blocks.
and fudging balance sheets to get coal
__
After coal, CBI
trains guns on
offshore mining
Agency
"toprobe
MORE MUCK
allocation of
62 offshore
___
______________
:miningblocks
feBureau
New Deilli, Sep 24: After
fihingaserlesof cases lntbe
coal block allocation scam,
thecBlhasnowbeentaske.J
wlthunearthingallegedir.
.
Five beneficiary
companies owned by
the family members of
an Indian Revenue
Serviceofficerare
regularities in the alioca
underthe agency's
tion of offshore mining 11.
scanner
censestoprivatefirms.
"The companies got
The CBI has registered a
preliminary enquiry into
around 28 blocks out
of 62 blocks despite
allocation
being noteligible
mineral
of 62 off-shore
blocks
in the sea
bed of of Bay of Bengal and
-
A
.
Arabian Sea, the first-ever
The CDI will also be
probing the role of
officials of ministryof
attempt
minesand Indian
tapped
to
-
explore
mineral
wealth
worththousandsof crore.
Theoffshoreblockswere
allocated toseveralcompa-
Bureau of Mines
" Each block,
mea$uringaboLjt800
nieslastyean
"A preliminary
m ineral wealth
inquiry
has been registered by the
agency in connection with
the alleged
favours
extend
ed to the companies by the
unknown officials of the In
dlan Bureau of Mines while
awarding
licenses
for ex
In March last yea
government in
the
an attempt
toexploreoff-shoremineral
wealth had placed 62 blocks
on offer out of which 28,
nearly half, were bagged by
ploring minefals in the sea
bed of Bay of Bengal and
members
Arabian Sea. This could be
another mega scam," said a
cial who had also served in
CBI officer.
of the former En
forcement Directorate offimines ministry
According to sources,
five
companiesownedbyfanijy
beneficiaries
compa
nies owned by the family
According to sources, the
four
companies,
with the
same central Delhi address,
members of an Indian Rev
under the OBI scanner are
enue Service officer are un
der the agency's scanner as
owned by the son andbroth-
the companies got around
28blocks out of 62 blocks de
spite being illegible,
The final award
of
11
erof the officer.
The CBlwfflalsobeprob-
the role of officials of
ministry of mines and Mdi
ing
an Bureau of Mines. The
cences hadbeenputonhold
sourcessaldthateachbjock,
after the aggrieved parties
measuring about 800 sq kin,
is estimated to have huge
reached
Andhra
Bombay
Pradesh
and
high
unexplored mineral
wealth
courts seek ing their cancel
in the seabed of Bay of Ben-
lation.
gal and Arabian Sea.
CVC's
On
nöd,
CBlto
probe
Coalgate
PRAMOD KUMAR
The
CRI
Monday
on
its probe into
expanded
"Coalgate", bringhig wider
its scanner all captive coal
allocations
since
1993,
including the six years of
NDA nile. This followed a
reference on this by the
Central
Corumission mi
Vigilance
Monday.
widen
fröm 1993
The CBI will soon request
the coal ministry to hand
wrltten
to the
Central
Vigilance Commission last
over all documents on coal
allocation since 1993. The
earlier
investigation
weck seeking a CBI pitbe
into all coal blocks allocated since 1993, when Ute government Md started allocation to private players for
required the CBI to examinc
allocations
only
between 2006 and 2009. lt is
likely to fle multiple FIRs
with
the
probe
being
widened, sources said.
Union
coal
Sripraliash
-
mihister
Jaiswal
had
use. He had also
enclosed a letter written by
seven MPs making
the
same demand.
captive
More on Page 3
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CBI to probe all coil
allocations since '93
I
óoal
I
The Cifi is trying to get
to the root of the matter
flRE Ob
-
THEPMSOFTIIDS[pAyS
'U
Vivek Sinha & Abhishok Sharan
Iette,s®hlndustantlmes.com
Naraslmha
Rao(1991-96)
Dew. Gowda
(1996-97)
I¬&1 F&fl--
NEW DELITh The Central Bureau
of Investigation
(CBI) on
Monday expanded the scope of
its probe into the 'coaigate' scam
ItGuJraI
to include all mines allotted to
private firms since 1993.
(1997-98)
This means investigating the
gjp-led
allotments by the
-
AB
Vajpayee
(1998-2064)
CBI to talkto Ktimar
National Democratic Alliance
regime froml998to2004aswell
Stage Is set for CBI to seek
a
seek a
as those given during United
Front rule in 1996-98.
response
from chief
vigilance commissioner
The practice of granting cap-
Ptadeep
the coal blocks to private power,
steel and cement companies
Kumar in
the
the coal-aflocation screening
committee in 2006 in his
began in 1993, following an
amendment to the Coal Mines
capacity as special secretary
(Nationalisation) Act.
in the coal minisfl
CBI to probe all coaL
CONTINUED
spokesperson Dharini
Mishra told HT the investigat
ing authority had expanded
probe's scope following adirec
Central Vigilance
Commission (eve), India's
their stakes at a premium on
the strength of having unused
coal reserves.
statutory anti-cornipt
onwatch
dog.
The CV(Th recommendations
The BJP has accused the government of using the CBI for
alleged vested political inter-
totheCBlcomesdaysaftercoal
minister Sriprakash Jaiswal
endorsed and forwarded a let
ter by seven Congress MPs who
had demanded a comprehen
ests.
, "We are not worried about
the cve asking the CBI to
sive probe into all captive coal
probe coal block
blocks allocated
.Jaiswal and
has for
warded the letter to the CBI,
asking it to take action," a top
government source told lit
The move was "aimed" at
Plo
'IC
The CHI has so far booked
seven companies for alleged
irregularities such as selling
tion from the
Sriprakash
>
ensuring a "clean-up" of the coal
block allocation process in the
country, the source added.
FROM PAGE I
CBI
since 1993.
"The CVC has noted the view
points
of
coal
minister
coal
scam. He was a member of
allocations
from 1993 as the NDA has nothing to hide. The issue here is
/
whoisbringinginthel99aperi
od and why. It is the Congress,
which has been demanding this
as it wants to delay everything"
said HiP spokesperson Prakash
Javadekat
Kefala Cabinet yet to décideon CBI probe'
VA JAYARAJ
Caught
"
between
from the
xamaana me Kevoiutlonary
(RMP), which
KOZFIIKODE
State
"
Party
Marxist
objections
police and
sharp divisions within the
Congress party, Kerala's
Congress-led UDF Government
is struggling hard to take a decision on
the demand for a
CBI
probe into the conspiracy
behind
rebel
of
the brutal murder
Marxist
leader
TP
Chandrasekharan ofOnchiyam,
Kozhikode on May 4 last.
HomeMinister
Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan
visited Chandrasekharan
widow MC Rama at Oncbiyam
on Monday in a reported bid to
make her withdraw the demand
for such a probe but she persisted that only a CBI investigalion could bring to light the roles
played by certain top leaders (of
the CPI(M)) in the conspiracy.
Chandrasekharan and his supporters had floated in 2008 after
their
departure from the
CPI(M), had on September 4
demanded a CR1 probe into the
conspiracy behind the murder.
Opposition
leader
Achuthanandan
VS
had the very
next day
come out in support for
the call for CBi probe.
The Government -.- especially Chief Minister Oommen
Chandy
and
-
Home Minister
Radhakrishnan
favour ofinitiating a
was
in
CBI probe
but the situation got complicated after senior Congress
leader and Union Minister of
State
for Home Mullappally
Cabinet
opinion aired by the special
after seeking
investigation team of the Kerala
legal
Police which probed the murder that a CR1 probe into the
Radhakrishnan
after meeting
-
Rn at her home in Onchiyam.
The Minister is said to have told
Rama about the difficulties that
after
conspiracy at this stage
the chargesheet had been filed
could possibly come
investigation it had carried out
meaningless. However, it was
CBI
conspiracy
-
-
up if the
probed only one aspect
of the murder.
Minister told mediapersons in
Kozhilcode that the Government
need clarity on some legal issues
would
involved
truth behind the murder. We
do nothing that could
in the matter. The
Cabinet will take a decision after
getting clarity on such
matterC
Radhakrishnan said.
"A decision would now be
the opinion of
said
experts:'
Police. The Government and the
people of Kerala want to see the
CPMREBEL'SMURDER
Ramachandran objected to this.
This was followed by the
taken by the Kerala
a decision, the SIT said.
On Monday, the Home
-
could
render
the whole
up to the Government to take
weaken
Police's
the case of the Kerala
Revealing the rift within the
Congres& its State chief Ramesh
even when he
promised to consider the
demand of Rama and the RMP
for a
SIT
CR! 'mvestigation
Chennithala
with the
seriousness that it deserved.
"There would not be any
move that could weaken the
eicisting case of the Kerala
differed with
Mullappally Ramachandran saying it was perfectly all right to
-
hand over the probe to CBJ or
any other agency if there was
conviction that a fol1ow-up
investigation was necessary
CBI starts probing awarciof
offshore mining licences
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE" NEW DELHI
CBI registers a
regular case.
In March 2010, The Centre had placed 63
a mega scam, the CBT has begunprobS'g
alleged irregularities
the award of
blocks
on offer out of which 28 blocks were
in
licences for offshore mineral blocks exploration
bagged by companies owned by family members
of Agarwal, the former Enforcement Directorate
worth thousands of crores by the Mines Ministry
A preliminary inquiry has been registered by
official who had also served in Mines Ministry.
the agency in connection with the alleged
favours extended to the companies by the
unknown officials of the Indian Bureau of
hold
ing
Mines, Nagpur under the Ministry of Mines while
awarding licences for exploring minerals in the
sea bed of Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. In its
PE, the CBI has also alleged that some private
companies are
sources said.
also involved in the scam, agency
The final award of licences had been put on
after aggrieved parties approached the
Bombay High Court
and the Andhra Pradesh
High Court seeking their cancellation.
The companies allegedly owned by the son
and brother of the officer are based at the same
address on Kasturba Gandhi Marg in the national capital, the sources
said.
The CN has alleged that these four compa-
nies were incorporated after bids were invited
from the interested parties for exploration and
According to the FE, four beneficiary companies
had bagged 28 blocks out of a total of 63
offshore blocks. The four beneficiary companies
including RVG Alloys and Metals Pvt Ltd. and
did not have any experience in offshore mining
at the time of notification.
The sources said CBI is probing how these
Ltd under the CBI scanner are
dubious companies managed to score over rival
owned by the family members of an Indian
Revenue Service officer Ashok Agarwal, sources
firms which were in fray for the lucrative contracts. The companies owned by the IRS officer's
RVG Minerals Pvt
said Agarwal's companies are alleged to have
bagged nearly half of the blocks despite lacking
requisite criteria, the sources said, adding arms
lobbyist Abhishek Verma has expressed his willingness to
become an approver if and when the
family scored much above the other competitors
at screening committee meetings.
Each block measuring about 800 sq km is
estimated to have huge unexplored mineral wealth
in the sea bed of Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea.
CBI's probe from '93 oIiticaI ploy?
PIONEER
NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI
is who is bringing in the 1993
period and why. It is the
Mm
Congress
a move that has drawn
Incriticism
of diverting atten-
all
CR! has
1993, including those
durinjNDA rule.
CR! on
requisite
made
Comptroller
towards it following a request
from Coal Minister Sriprakash
1993. The Government had
started allocations to private
CVC's
tion.
recommendation to probe any
possible irregularities in the
its reference, the CVC
asked the CBI to probe how
from
the coal
block
of Prime Minister
charse
with the
2009, when the Coal Ministry
private companies and the kind
of profit accrued to coal block
was headed by the Prime
Minister, as many as 155 coal
blocks were allocated to
the Centre
has
notices and 25 blocks have
been de-allocated.
Manmohan
allegedly connived
While
have
UPA II regime, when the Coal
Ministry was under the
ed to private players during the
regimes of PV Narasimha Rao,
HD Deve Gowda and 1K Gujral
sought to distract the attention
own admission, 32 allocatees
been cautioned, 58 have
been
issued
showcause
scam
scripted during the present
has
the rules were flouted and if
there was any flagrant violation
of the policy. The vigilance
watchdog also asked the CBI to
probe the possible role of
Government officials who
beneficiary companies.
Singh, it is noteworthy that
only eight blocks were allocat-
Reacting
ment,
RJP
Government and this move is
develop-
said it has no
on the CVC's
reservations
order asking CR1 to probe coal
allocations from 1993 onwards
and alleged this was a "delay-
and 32 blocks during six-year
NDA rule. During 2006 and
different
the
to the
ing tactic"
of the
Congress
since it wants the truth muffled.
"We are not worried about
the CVC asking the CR! to
probe coal block allocations
companies.
By the UPA Government's
The UPA Government
decided in 2004 that there
should be competitive bidding
in coal mining, Javadekarsai&
The BJP leader alleged that
CR1 Is being "used, abused
and
by
misused"
the
aimed at divertins attention
from the scams and corruption
of the UPA regime.
"In
1993, a Congress
Government was
in power.
Then Governments of 1K Gujral
and Deve
Gowda, both sup-
the Congress, came to
power:' Javadekarsaid, reiterat-
ported by
ing
that his party has no issues
with the period to be probed.
from 1993 since the NDA has
continued on Page 4
nothing to hide. The issue here
More on PlO
CBI's probe from '93...ttct5
power,
From Page 1
"The point here is
should be investigated,
from
The
letter
of MPs
also
sought for enquiry as to what
tigated. You can even start
system the Government ofIndia
put in place for selection of
companies for coal block allo
from 1976 when Indira Gandhi
from the
coal
mining or
17th century when
coal mining started. This is just
a delaying tactiC he added.
Seeking the CR1 probe,
Jaiswal recently forwarded a
letter written by seven parlia
cation between 1993 to 2004
and whether these guidelines
were followed and how were
joint venture partners selected.
The
allocation
cement
and
steel
because of growing economy.
when the issue should be inves
nationalised
new
increased coal prices' a
private players were allowed to
participate in power genera-
year 1993.
In
is the
also
players for captive use in the
coal blocks from
1993 to 2004 and the agency
will enquire into allocations
post-1993' a CBI official said.
Auditor
developments in coal mining.
"The CAG has explained
that global prices of coal
increased phenomenally in
2004. The Electricity Act, 2003
Jaiswal to the vigilance panel to
probe all allocations made after
allocation of
and
General (CAG), 2004
benchmark for the
from CVC
"CBI has received
been
Javadekar told PT!.
The BJP spokesperson
maintained that as per the
Monday received
reference
has
-
the current Coalgate,
decided to probe
coal allocations made since
tion from
the
which
demanding this as it wants to
delay
everything,"
BJP
Prakash
spokesperson
of coal
In its ongoing probe, CR1
has so far registered seven FIRs
against private companies and
unknown
public
officials for
alleged misrepresentation of
facts. "Till March 2011, the
Ministry of Coal has allocated
194 coal blocks for captive mlii
ing of which 142 were explored
blocks to private companies for
blocks and the balance 52 were
either regionally explored or
mentarians to the CVC saying
that blocks allotted between
captive use started in
unexplored
coal
blocks,"
Comptroller
and
Auditor
1993 and 2004 including those
(Nationalisation) Act, 1973 was
amended with the objective of
given during the NDA hale
when
Coal
1993
Mines
General
has said in its recent
report on coal block allocation.
Allegations against Rahul false: CBI
J.Venkatesan
NEW DELHI:
Investigation
of
reau
Monday
The Central Bu-
told
on
Supreme
the
Court that the allegation that
statements had been record-
by the Division Bench of the
ed to that effect,
High Court was illegal, without jurisdiction, and arbi-
and
pro-
duced the status report of the
investigation,
which
was
subsequently stayed by the
Supreme Court.
trary. He pointed
out that a
before a
singe judge was unilaterally
transferred by the Division
petition
pending
Congress leader Rahul Gand-
Acting on an appeal from
hi had kept a girl and her parents in illegal custody was
Mr. Samrite against the High
Court order imposing Rs. 50
lakh in costs on him, the Su-
Bench to itself, and it passed
preme Court stayed the
ition
false.
Additional Solicitor General, Harm
Raval, appearing
der
or-
in April last. The High
for the CW, told a Bench of
Justices B. S. Chauhan and
probe against him, for filing a
Swtanter
Kumar
petition
agency, as
per
that
the
the
Court had also directed a CIII
against
the
Mr.
the order, though it was only
dealing with another petfiled by one Gajendra
Pal Singh, who claimed to be
a relative of the girl.
Senior counsel P. P. Rao,
appearing
for Mr.
directions
Gandhi. It passed the order,
of the Allahabad High Court,
after the girl denied any such
to
an enquiry, and
found that the names of the
three persons were non-ex-
incident when she was produced in court.
young leader
with
argued that the order passed
conducted
istent.
Jts verification
various government authorities, including the
postmas-
ter,
Nagar
officials and
and
Civil
Panchayat
District
Suppliçs
Food
inspec-
tors, revealed that the three
were non-existent
and there was no such address as given in the compersons
plaint.
Mr. Raval
said
the
investigation and statements
secured revealed that the habeas corpus petition filed by
the former Samajwadi Party
MLA from Madhya Pradesh,
Kishore Sainrite, was funded
by
some
others.
He
said
In his appeal, Mr. Samrite
Gandhi,
said the
whole attempt was
tarnish the image of a
of the party.
The petitioner had filed the
petition based on website reports, which
were false.
CVC orders CBI to widen probe intd
coal allocations during NDA rule
Sandeep
Josh
NEW DELHI: On instructions
from the Central Vigilance
Commission,
the
CBI
on
Monday decided to expand
the scope of its investigation
into the scam in coal blocks
allocation to private firms
between 1993 and 2004.
The probe will now cover
the blocks given during the
six-year tenure of the BJPled NDA government, from
1998 to 2004, besides those
by the
Congress
allotted
government led by P.V. Narasimha Rao after 1993 and
lotted for ultra-mega power
projects.
Twenty-four
the matter was referred to
the Ministry of Mines for
the
blocks were tie-allocated between 2003 and 2011 for
acting on amendment to the
non-performance
opment and Regulation) Act
for introduction of compet-
United
Front
govern-
ment from 1996 to 1998. Till
now, the CIII was investigating private
companies
However, according to the
-
CAG report, still a majority
of the allocations were made
under the Congress-led UPA
Auditor-General's re-
on the allocation between 1993 and 2009, 215
blocks were allotted and 99
of them went to government
port
and 105 to prifirms, while 11 were al
Mines and Mineral (Devel-
itive biddin,
and another
142 after July 2004. Nota-
bly,
as on March 31,2011,194
blocks stood allocated, said
government after 2004. Till
the GAG report.
June 2004, only 39 blocks
(nettwere allotted, while 71
CBI investigation began, an-
allocations
companies
vate
com-
panies.
that
got blocks between 2004
and 2009.
As per the Comptroller
and
by
were made be-
tween July 200'tlnd September 2006 (till the time
other
13 blocks
de-allocated.
Since the
have been
On representations
from
MPs, Coal Minister Shripra-
kash
Jaiswal
CVC last
CBI probe
tions
wrote to the
week, seeking a
into the alloca-
since 1993 when
the
government started giving
blocks
to private players
'Maipractices
in
for captive use.
Mainly Congress
leged
allocations:
in the allocations under the
NDA rule.
Continued on Page 12
Conflnued from Page 1
Congress
MP
Sndeep
Dikshit alleged in a letter that
there were maipractices in
the allocations
from
1993 and
2004, and demanded a thorough inquiry into all allocations during
the
many cases
in
period. "In
which joint
been formed
ventures have
between the State
govern-
ment corporations and priparties,
vate
there
is
information that many
these were done through
of
fa-
yours to certain parties
and
under political pressure, and
due diligence was not followed in the selection of
part-
ners by the State government
corporations."
Mr. Dikshit also alleged
that the "State governments,
especially
in Chhattisgarh,
Madhya
Pradesh
and Orissa,
clandestinely gave mines to
private players through the
joint venture route, and no
known system of fair play or
has been foldemanded that all
blocks
allotted since
competition
lowed." He
coal
1993 be investigated by the
CB1, especially the systems
through which the State gov-
ernments
companies,
and
selected
and the
guidelines that
lowed.
private
criteria
were
MPs al-
massive irregularities
fol-
Tafra
CBI:BEML surrendered
manufacturing rights partially
Devesh K. Pandey
Central
NEW DELHI: The
of
reau
Investigation
Bu-
has
and the
target was fixed at 85 per cent
indigenisation by 1991.
However,
to
suspect
when Czechoslovakia split into the Czech
Bharat Earth
Movers
Republic
strong
that
trucks
indigenise the
reasons
and
Slovakia
in
Limited, through
1993,
randurn
company also split into two.
of
a memounderstanding
with the Ravi
Rishi-owned
the
manufacturing
While the one manufacturing
British company Tatra Sipox
70 per cent
U.K., during the tenure of the
was renamed Tatra AS, the
other was called Vab Sipox
suspended BEML chief V. B.
Natarajan,
S.
rendered
partially sur-
the manufacturing
rights
of all-terrain Tatra
trucks in 2003. The agency
might now seek the opinion
of the authorities
concerned
to verify the suspicion.
Investigations
in
the
supply of the trucks through
BEML to the Indian Army
have revealed that based on
the
1986 and 1997 agreements with the manufactur-
ers,
BEML
gained
had
called Tatra
Sipox). Ac-
cording
to agency sources,
investigations revealed that
Vab Sipox was gradually privatised and 80 per cent of the
company was taken oyer by
Josef Majsky, who allegedly
into the al-
irregularities
leged
(later
of the product
exclusive rights to manufacture the trucks in India. How-
ever, through an MoU with
had prior business links with
Mr. Ravi
Rishi.
During
the
phase, the supply
turbulent
of trucks
was hit, and subsequently
Ravi Rishi's Venus Projects
bagged
product
and thus had
to be
imported.
The agency has found that
the agreement for supply of
the truck components that
was renewed in 1997 reinforced the exclusive manufacturing
rights of BEML in
India. Also, it allegedly mentioned that the technological
knowhow
documents
had
transferred to BEML
However, soon after Mr.
Natarajan
took
over
as
been
BEML chief, the PSI! entered
into an MoU with Tatra Sipox U.K. allegedly excluding
the rights to manufacture the
truck axle, thus partially surthe manufacturing
rendering
rights. "BEML was supposed
to import only the compo-
nents
and manufacture
the
trucks on its own," said a CBI
Source.
Investigations
one order of 100
trucks from BEML It is alleged that Venus
was award-
revealed that BEML had also
developed a prototype of the
have
also
ed the contract despite the
fact that it was neither a
not allowed
Tatra truck axle, but it was
to further devel-
Tatra Sipox U.K. in February
manufacturer nor its subsidi-
op it and was allegedly forced
2003, it is alleged that the
ary, but a marketing compa-
to import the axle, causing
manufacturing
rights
were
partially surrendered by excluding
the axle part.
The
veaed
CBJ
probe
has
re-
that the public sector
unit had in 1986 entered into
an agreement with Tatra of
the erstwhile Czechoslovakia
for
supply
of Tatra T815
Simultaneously, unthe agreement,
docu-
1994,
tke
CET probe
huge losses to the exchequer.
revealed that Vnus and Tatra Sipox came together to
Interestingly, agency sources
ny. In
set up
Tatra Sipox
U.K.
through a 50-50 partnership.
Later, the company was allegedly taken
over by Mr.
Rishi.
The Slovak-based compa-
trucks.
ny,
der
hired
which
the
earlier manufactruck
axle
and
ments
technological
on
knowhow pertaining to the
backbone
manufacturing of the trucks
BEML, allegedly started ex-
were also bought for Rs. 3
crore. It was agreed that
BEML would progressively
could
the
tube part,
correspondence
erting
axle
pressure
during
with
that BEML
not manufacture the
as it was a patented
said the then Secretary Defence Production had then
raised objections asking cancellation of the 2003 MoU.
However,
the
objections
were ignored.
On the issue of the alleged
surrendering of manufacturrights, BEML Chief of
Public Relations B. S. Sridhar
ing
said over the phone that he
did not know anything about
it. Several attempts to contact Mr. Natarajan also did
not elicit any response.
CVC FOR PROBE INTO ALLOCA1IONS SINCE 1993
AllcOatdèäls:'
SI'S
is
-
& pti
Cong does not want truth
to be revealed, says RiP
DELHIJKANPUR, 24 SEPt The CDI has
decided to expand its probe into coalgaté,
NEW
NEW DELHI, 24 SEWn The BJP today
said it has no reservations on the CVC's
order, asking the CBI to probe coal
allocations from 1993 onwards and
alleged this was a delaylng tactic"
the Congress as it does not want the
truth to come out.
We are not worried about the CVC
askIng the Cal to probe coal block
allocations from 1993 as the NDA has
nothing to hide. The issue here is who Is
bringing In the 1993 period and why. It
Is the Congress which has been
demanding this as It wants to delay
everything" BJP spokesperson Prakash
Javadekartold P11.
The SiP spokesperson maIntained that
as per the Comptroller and Auditor
General, 2004 Is the benchmark for the
new developments In coal mining. "The
CAG has explained that global prices of
coal increased phenomenally in 2004.
" The Electricity Act, 2003 also increased
coal prices as private players were
allowed to participate in power
generation. The IJPA government
decided In 2004 that there should be
competitive bidding In coal mining" Mr
Javadekarsaid. The SIP leader alleged
that the CBI is being "used, abused and
misused" by the government and this
move Is aimed at diverting attentIon
from the scans and corruption. ptl
bringing under its scanner all coal block allocalions made since 1993, including doing the sixyear
N04 Me after, a reference in this regar4
was. received
from the Central Vigilance
Commission (CVC) today.
week, .Coal Minister Shri Prakash
Last
Jalswal
,
-
wrote to the CVC, seeking aCM probe
into alt the coal blocks allocated since 193
when the government started allocating them to
private players for captive use.
Seeking the CBI probe, Mr Jaiswal has also
recently forwarded a letter written by'seven par.
liamentarlans to the CYC, saying that blocks
allotted between 1993 and 2004, including
those given during the NDA rule, should be
investigated by the Clii, as favours were
allegedly done to parties under political pres-
sure.
'
-
-
'
The letters alo sought an enquiry into what
ystem the Indian government put in place for
the selection of companies for coalblock alloca-'
tion between 1993 to 2004, whether thos
guidelines were followed and how joint-venture
partners were selected.
,
The CVC today referred the complaints to
the CDI 'to probe tbe matter and the agency will
soon begin its investigation, CIII sources said.
The allocation of coal blocks to private com-'
panies for captive use started in 1993 when Coal
Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973 was amended
with the objective of attracting private investments in specified end uses such as pOwer,'
cement and steel because of growing econoni~
In its ongoing probe, the CIII has so far regis-
tered
-
cal
situation.
seven FIRs against private companies and
unknowr public officials for alleged misrepre12 booked for obstructingiaiswàl convoy'
sentation of facts.
A local SF leader along with 11 others were
Thl March 201l theMinistry of Coalhas allo- today b okedhere fott,lie&edlyatt&mpungjs
4e4t4 194Sfbttfoc captiv&nthilng of whicW;'"obstrnct thCcohvoy bi Coal Minister ¶iprikMi
142 were explQrëd blocks and the remaihing Jaiswal to, 4ayago. Oa 22 September, Mr
ivere either regionally explored or unexplored
Jaiswal's motorcade was obstructed by a group
coal blocks," Comptroller and Auditor General
of traders, who raised slogans and ceportedfr
has said In its recent report On coal block allocathrew shoes at the cars. They were opposing the
tion.
Centre's decision of inviting 51 per cent FDI in.
Meanwhile, ahead 'of its Working Committee
ultibnnd retaiL Mr Jaiswal's PM) had flied
meeting; the' Congress today again targeted
the complaint.
Comptroller and Auditor General mod ltai,
Today, the local SF trade leader Gyanesh
alleging that some people haye the "penchant of
Mishra and his supporters reached Gwaltoli
seeking to becdthe a hero by adding zeros" in
pOlice station to court arrest. Police, however,
their report.
ruled out any arrest saying a probe was on.
His remarks came on the eve'of the meeting of
However, Mr Mishra alleged that Mr Jaiswal's
the CWC, the apex policy making body' of the
case against him was false as his group only wanted
party, which will deliberate dn the current ppliti
to give a petition opposing FDI tqMrJaiswal.
'
- -- -' -'
'
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iilrziit
AllOcations Since '93 to be Probed
It Will cover NDA
period, too,
when the govt allotted 30 coal blocks
18 to private cos & 12 to government firms
malpracticsa during NOt,
rule.
In Itslatest report, CÁO hadestimated
undtaebenefilaofei,tglalcJ,
crors topri'
sate tirmeonaccountofallocation oral
OUR POLITICAI.
BUREAU
NEW DELHI
,f
he Central VIgilance Commission
has directedClll to conducta
probe into allocation of all
coal
biodkseince 1991. ThIa will covertheNoA,
period, too,
when the government allotted 30 coalblocks
IC to private companies and 12 to tovergutientflrma.
With thla, all 195 captive mine owners
will come under thescrottny of tInt. The
government has, ames 1993, allotted
195
coat blocks to private, public sector and
slate-controlled utilities. The is,vesttgationsso farwere restricted toreatrtctedto
64 capeivemines. "CBI will ottlarpreliminary enquiry into all allocation since
1593," a Cilt spokesperson told ET,
On September 5, seven Ml's led bySandsep lIkable had mel the dill to seek a
(CVC)
WthavenoobJeclIoILCong
doesnotwarflcBltocomet,
—
probe intoallocallonsmadebegweenigga
WIOEANGLS
andlqO4, "lnvesttgaeton
Slwlpr.J4ashJaIsyrnl
ystemihey
most cover what
tatalegovernmonls)sdopted
a conclusWn. This is
Congress'
attempttodivertatteiitlon
BJP leader Prakash Javadskar said his
party welcomed the decision of the Cvi?,
party spokesman ManlshTgwaritord
between2006and 2009.
"Wehavenoobjection. congreaedoea not
reporters here.
PRAICASI4JAVADEKAR
BJPSpokespc,aon
ensure tranoparent
what
CAGAgain
Inineswtthoutauctlon.ThetasueofauocationIs also being reviewed by an inter'
minIsterialgroup, which has concluded
NEW DELHI Aheadof itoWorklngComrnittee
scrutiny of 211 blocks allotted
to private
companiesand
Is lilcely toreviewasimore meeting. Congrenton Monday has agarn
givento government firma from October
targeted CAC Vinod Rat. ategingehat
some
9. Apart from recommending de'atloca
people havethg penchantofseeelngto
panel
blocks,
tionof is
else
has so rarrec
beconlea hero byaddingzeroc insteir
ommendeddeductionofbankguarontee
report. rhe penchant orseekiog
to become
in cases of l4mlnea,
ahero byadding zeros (in their reports)
Responding to the latest development,
fromallocationmade
Wehavenothingtohide
to
Cong Targets
on
allocation, and
tents and selected
were adopted
and followed
guidelines
by
State
got
ernmeni, what methodof due-diligence
wore employed
for the
aame
the MPa
wente In thetetter, apprehendingcaaea of
wantdnlto come to a conclusion, This is
Congress' attempt
to divert attention
from allocation made between loco and
itOsi, We have nothing to hate," theBip
spokesperaon said.
OPt, too, said It did not expect a fair
probe. 'tam not cure whether the probe
willho effective, We have demandedajo
dicial probe. We havealso asks for can'
cellatlonof licenses, which gtvernment
hasnotagreed'
said CI'S Ieadernaaja.
doesrIot mean
a cram
has taken place:
Hit remarks came
on the
eveofehe meetlntgoftWtjtreapex
making body
ate
onthe
policy
of the party, sshtchwiltdeliter-
current sokttcat ytuatioC the
meeting to signhticaneas
isis the first interac
tion at CWt In the wake ofthe government
auditors report on the coal block allocation
lame
InwhIch in hat
fitstoprivate
Iakh crore.
-
spoken
players
P11
of unduebane-
to theesneoeea85
*WtaIit
HIM
Rj fft,
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c~
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24
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t
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I
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Si
tt
fII
Il1*1*T3Ut1
(BI
to probe coal
block allocations
c
since 1993
HewsSe.nviick
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 24
inquiry into alleged
inegularities in coal block
The
allocation issue today took a
new turn when the Central
Vigilance
Commission
(CVC) asked the CIII to
inquire into allocationssince
1993
when the BJP-led NDA
was in power at the Centre.
The policy of allocation of
coal blocks began in 1993.
The CBI received a request
letter from the CVC and,
decided to proceed, sources
in bureau said.
Last week, Coal Minister
Shri Prakash .laiswal wrote to
CYC seeking aCBI probe into
all the coal blocks allocated
since 1993 when Government
had started allocation to
~vate
players for captive use.
Seeking the CBI probe,
Jaiswal has also recently forwritten by
warded a letter
seven parliamentarians to the
CYC saying that blocks allotted between 1993 and 2004
(81 to
probe cool
block allocations
,tI
since] 993;t;
Froth page
jI
rI1
including those given during
the
NDA rule
should
be
investigated by the CBI, as
allegedly favours were done
to parties
under political
letter of MPs
for enquiry as to
what system the Government
ofIn4ia put in place for selection of companies for coal
pressure. The
also sought
block allocation between
1993 to 2004 and whether
these
lowed
guidelines were foland
how were
joint
venture partners selected.
ive coal:
cBI to probe Cap
block allotments since '93
BS REPORIIR
New Delhi, 24 September
In a new twist in the Investigation of
the alleged coaP scam, the Central
Bureau of InvestIgation (CBI) will start
an inquiry Into the allotment of 195
coal blocks to captive
mIners. Includthg
state government entities. The Inquiry
will cover allocations sInce 1993.
The ongoIng Cm inquiry covers 67
blocks allotted to pñvate parties since
2004 when the ruling United Progressive
Alliance (UPA) came
to power. If the
Inquiry raises questions over allocations
duling the National Democratic Affiance
The story starts from 2004 but if
somebody wants to go back to the
11th century, we have no objection,"
said the DiP's
Prakash Javadekar
(NDA) regime, It will provide the government with political ammunition to
names they forwarded to the government," the MPs
wrote In the letter.
counter criticism bythe Opposition. The
NDA government was In power from
1999 to 2004.
The fresh investigation, with Its
widened scope, Is likely to focus on
three aspects. One, the systems adopt-
The Cli will conduct the fresh
Inquiry based on a reference by the
Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).
ed to ensure transparency and the cr1-
The reference came In response to a
September 19 letter by Coal Minister
teria and selection guidelines adopted
by states while recommending parties.
Two, the systems put In place by the
Centre for selection of companies for
Stiprakash Jalswal requesting
allocation between 1993 and
the commission to take up the
concerns of a group of seven
2004. Three, how
Joint venture
partners were selected for allocations Involving private com-
UPA MPs on the probe. The
Ml's, Including Sandlp Dikshit
panies
Harish Chaudhary, Ravneet
Slngh and Raghuveer Singh
corned the
Meena, In a September 5 letter
to the minister had asked for a
CBI probe Into allocations since
COAL FIRE
1993, cIting the latest CAG
report
lockallocon.
-
The CAG had noted there was nosystern In place for tnnsparent and accountable
and state governments.
The Opposition BJP weh
allocation. "It appears thattherewere
many cases ofmalpractice while allocat-
blocks between 1993 and 2004. All
b1ocls allotted sInce 1993 shouid beInvesbig
tlgated by
the CBL specially looking at
systems through which state govern-
ments selected private companies whose
widening of the
Inquiry. "The story starts from
2004butifsomebodywantsto
go back to the 17th century we
have
no objection,"
BJP
spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.
The government has allotted a
total of 218 blocks to companies since
1993. of these, 195 blocks stood allocated to 289 companies by December
2011. The government had cancelled
seven blocks based on the recommendations of an Inter-ministerial
group earlier this month owing to
delays In their progress.
Coal scam: CBI to
probe all allocations
since 1993
Our Bureau
Chaudhary, Rauneet
Singh, Ch Lal Singh, Raghuvir
flarish
New Delhi, Sept 24
The Central Bureau of hivesligation
will investigate all the
195 captive coal mines allocated
since 1993. Currently, the
agen-
cy's
probe
blocks
was limited to 64
private
to
Singh Meena, Ijyaraj Singh and
Manick Tagore. On September
5, they
wrote
to Pradip Kumar,
Chief Vigilance Commissioner,
wanting all coal
blocks allotted
given
companies.
since 1993 investigated by the
CRI, especially at the way the
This means allocations made
during the BJP-led NDA Gov-
State governments selected pri-
ernment would also come under the
scanner.
'We have no objection to the
they
CBI
holding a probe into coal
allocations since 1993," said BJP
Member of Parliament Prakash
Javadekar. The RIP has been
maintaining that no company
was favoured during the NDA
regime between 1998 and 2004.
The CBI's current investiga-
vate
companies whose
names
forwarded to the Centre.
They sent a similar request to
the Coal Ministnj as well. Coal
Minister Srlprakash Jaiswal forwarded the request to the CVC
on Septemberl9.
Interestingly,
the
Congress
MPs said
the
investigation
should focus on 'what systems
the Government put in place for
coal
between 1993
This was the time the
selection of companies for
tion of 64 blocks is based on
Javadekar and his colleague
Hansraj Ahir's complaint to the
block allocations
Central Vigilance Commission
The CRI has so far registered
seven FIRs accusing private
companies of misrepresenta-
(CVC). The CRI will now widen
the probe to all coal blocks, as
the CVC
has again
writtento the
the investigalion for all allocations.
agency to take up
"The CRI has received the
CVC communication
asking to
look into allocation of coal
blocks post 1993, and
we will
start the preliminary investigations," a CRI spokesperson told
Business Line. The CVC's move
is based on a request by seven
Congress MPs
-
Sandeep Dixit,
and 2004.'
NDAGovernmentwasinpower.
tions and
these
false claims while apfor coal blocks. Some of
firms have also been ac-
cused
of selling
plying
their stakes after
allocation of a block.
Ofthe 195 coal blocks, 24 were
de-allocated earlier. Recently,
another 13 blocks were de-allocated post the Inter Ministerial
Group recommendations.
siddhartha.s@
thehindu.co.in
CVC wänts to know if
Cöalgate began in 1993
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW
DELHI: In a
tit-for-tat
ments duting allocation of
coal blocks. The criteria and
selected guidelines followed
of sorts which looks directed
during the allocation must be
at
probed a source said.
previous
the Central
governments,
Bureau
of Inves-
tigation (CBI) was
asked to
to find out the system put in
probe the coal blocks abt-
place for selection of com-
ted
since
1993, which will
include the investigation into
the ones allocated during the
National Democratic Alliance
government.
The
move
panies
CBI was
also asked
for coal block alloca-
tion between 1993 to 2006,
whether these guidelines wer&
followed and how joint yenpartners were Selected.
ture
made
was
on Monday after the Cen-
tral Vigilance Commission
(CVC) asked the CBI
is
The
-
A preliminary enquiry to
examme the irregularities in
the ällocation of coalblocks by
which
the coal ministry during 2006-
probing coal block alloca-
-09 was initiated on a reference
from the CVC in June.
The Comptroller and Audi-
tions made during 2006-09
-to extend its investigations
to cover all allocations since
tor General has estimated
1993. 'hie CVC asked that the
agency investigate the system
undue loss of
adopted by the state govern
the case.
Rs
1.86
lakh
crore to the government in
Sachan case: CBI
to file for closure
AGE
CORRESPONDENT
NEW OELHI, SEPT. 24
The CBI has fmally decided
to file a closure report in
the mysterious death of
Deputy
Medical
Chief
Officer (CMO), Y.S. Sachan,
who
was
Lucknow
found dead in
district jail on
‚June 22, 2011.
The CBI's investigations
have more or less concluded that Sachan committed
suicide, sources sah!.
Sachan was a suspect in
two murder cases related to
the multic-crore National
Rural
Health
(NRHM)
scam
Mission
in
Uttar
Pradesh.
Sources said the agency
sleuths reconstructed the
cham
of evefits and also
used the services of foren-
sie experts from the All
India Institute of Medical
Sciences (AIIMS)
to probe
if Sachan was murdered.
"The doctors have fmaily
opined that the nature of
iiijuries on Sachan's body
could have been seif inflicted. Even after re-examina-
tion of the forensie reports
several times, the agency
officials did not found anything
sai4.
suspicious",
sources
Now, the CBI has fmally
decided
nie
ciosure
to
report in the case by the
end of this weck,
added.
sources
Large scaie irregularities
in the impiementation of
NEHM programme in UP
came to hght after twa
CMOs— Dr V.K. Arya amt
Dr Dl' Singh—were shot in
Lucknow within a period of
six months in 2011.
Besides,
Deputy
CMO
who
Sachan,
was
an
accused in both the munter
case, was found
Lucknow jall.
dead
in
The agency, which has so
far registered 18 cases in
the NRIIM scam, is probing
two munter cases 0! CMOs
also.
"The agency probe has
revealeil that Sachan was
under
immense
mental
pressure b&ause of police
investigations against hirn.,
The CBI has also recovered
a ietter written by hirn an
June 11 2011, about 10 days
before he allegedly committed suicide in Lucknowjail.
In the leiter Sachan had
threatened to reveai the
-
those involved In
names o
the kffling of two former,
CMOs—Dr V.K. Arya and
Dr BP Singh," sourcos said.
CBI PE in offshore licences
AGE
CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, SEPT. 24
After initiating its probe
multi-erore coal-
into the
gate
scam, the CBI has
now registered a preliminary inquiry (PE) to investigate
alleged
irregulari-
ties
favours
by
extended
unknown officials of the
IBM
to the
companies
while awarding licences
for expioring minerals in
the Bay of Bengal aM
in the allocation of
hcences for expioring mmerals in th
sen bed of Bay
of Bengal and Arabian Sea.
Role of certain officials of
for expioring minerals in
the sea bed, are under the
the
Indian
Bureau
of
Mines (IBM) is under the
scanner of the agency,
According to sources, the
agency has registered a PE
scanner of the CBI. These
companies are reiortedly
owned by the family meinbers of an Indian Revenue
Service (IRS) officer. The
to
agency
probe
the
alleged
Arabian Sea.
"At least sbc companies
which were given licenses
is scrutinising all
documents submitted by
these companies while Lii
Ing applications for the
licences", sources said. lt
is believed that licences
for at least ten blocks were
given to these companies
jlespite lacking necessary
qualification,
sources
added.
The
final
award
of
licences had been put on
hold after aggrieved parties
approached
Bombay high court
the
and
the Andhra Pradesh
high
court seeking their cancellation.
Sources
further
said,
"Probe
has
also revealed
that at least three companies were given licences
without having any
xperience in the offshore miiing. Ilow these conipanies
managed to get licences Ihr
exploration, is a matter of
probe". The agency is now
scrutinising the list and
other relevant documents
of all 62 companies which
were awarded
licences.
'The CBI wffl also request
the
Indian
Bureau
of
Mines, which works under
the ministry of munes, to
handover all relevant documents related to these
companies to the agency,"
sources said:
-
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CONGMPsWROTE
TOREOUEST
PROBE EXPANSION
PRAMOD KUMAR
NEW
DELHI.
SEPT. 24
Monday
The
CBI
on
expanded the ambit of its
probe
into the coalgate
scam by bringlng under its
scanner all captive coal
block
allocations made
since 1993. The allocation
of coal blocks to private
companies for captiveuse
" started
in
Mines
Coal
1993 whcn
(Nationalisation)
Act,
1973 was amended
objective
with
the
of
attracting private Invest-
ments in specified end uses
such as power, cement and
steel
becäuse
While
-
of growing
economy.
seeking
the
CRI
probe, Union coal minister
Sriprakash
Jaiswal had
also forwarded a
letter
written by seven parlia-
mentarians to
the CVC saythat blocks allotted
between
2004,
1993 and
including those given dur
ing
Ing the NDA nile, should
be investigated by the CRI,
as allegedly favours were
done to private companies
under political pressure,
sources said. The letter of
als 6 sought: for
MPs
enqufry as to what system
the Government of Indla
put In place for selection of
companies for coal block
allocation between 1993 to
2004 and whether these
guidelines were followed.
The expanded probe wffl
allocations of cap-
examme
tive coal blocks made by
the coal ministry, on the
recommendations
of the
inter-ministerial screening
during
the
committee,
regime
of
Ministers.
live
Prime
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A 22942004r11'j
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Seminar o
-
Customs!
DIrector, CDI. A.P. Siagh and the Chairman, National
Com
mission for Minorities, W4aliat Habibuilah at a seminar on
and Robust Vigilance Mechanism', organised
by CBEC. Also seen Parveen Mabajan, Chairperson, CSEC
"bnspaient
CBI lens on
1sea wealth
SUSPECTING another Instan-
of exploitation of natural
resources, the CBI has begun a
probe into alleged Irregularities
m the country's first-ever attempt to explore untapped misteral wealth worth thousands of
crores lying In the deep seabed.
The CBI has registered a preliminary enquiry In connection
with the alleged favours extended to certain firms by unknown
officials of the Indian Bureau of
Mines while awarding licences
for exploring minerals In the
seabed of the Bay of Bengal and
the Arabian Sea, sources said.
According to the sources, five
beneficiary companies owned by
family members of an IndianRevenue Service (IRS) officet who
was earlier posted at the enforcement directorate, are also under the agency's scanner as they
bagged nearl' half of the blocks
despite laclang the necessary
qualification. "Out of 63 blocks,
28 were allocated to firms owned
by the family members of the
IRS officer. Officials of the ministry of mines are also under the
scanner as the officer had served
there as well," a CBI officer said.
It Is alleged that the accused
firms did not have any experience In offshore mining at the
time of notification.
The Indian Bureau of Mines
had announced In March last
year the list of firms that won
the bids. But the Nagpur bench
of the Bombay High Court had
stayed the execution after acceptIng
the plea of a Thmil Nadubased company.
ce
Mail Today/New Delhi
coal blocks
face probe
THE CBi probe into coal block
allocations has expanded with
the
deciding
to
agency
scrutinise all the
since 1993.
allocations
This brings under the scanner coal block allocations made
during non-Congress gov-
ernments such as during the
BJP-led NDA rule.
The
agency received a reco-
widen the prothe Central Vigilance
Commission (CVC) on Monday.
mmendationto
be from
Currently the agency was
only looking into alleged
irregularities in the allotment
between 2006 and 2009 when
Prime Minister Manmohan
Slngh held additionai charge
of the coal ministry.
-
Last week, coal mThistersiiprJaiswal had written to
akash
the CVC requesting for a probe
into all allocations since 1993
when the government started
allocating blocks to private
players for captive use. Since
1993, a total of 194 blocks have
been allocated, of which the
CBi is already probing Into 64.
The government was pushed
into a corner by the Opposition
and the previous Parliament
session washed off after the Comptroiier and Auditor General
(CAG) pegged the loss at fl.86
lakh crore to the exchequer
Mail Today/New Delhi
Ex-MLApaidfor
U
case against Rahul
FORMER
MLA Kishore
Samrite had
received funds to file a petition against
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the Cal
told the Supreme Court on Monday.
Additional solicitor general Haren P.
Samrite had admitted to the
agency during questioning that he had
Ravel said
money
received
in cash
and
had
deposited it in his account in installments. 'We have bank receipts showing
the deposits," he added.
The ex-ML.A had earlier stated before
the SC that he had filed the petition at the
instance of SamaJwadi Party leaden. The
Uttar Pradesh government flied an affidavit saying Samrlte's allegation was an
attempt to gain cheap publicity and to
his political objectives.
advance
Mail lbday in New Delhi
mu :
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CBI probes offshor
mining licence scam
,
New
NeerajChauhanll-NN
'Can't quash FIRs
Delhi:
A
new
scam
worth several thousajds of
crores has come to light. The
CBI has started a probe Into
serious
irregularities
In
mining
awarding
offshore
blocks to private companies
thatdidnotfuifllltheeligibfl.
ity criteria.
The CBI has registered a
preliminary enquiry against
officials of Indian Bureau of
Kln got 28 blodcs,p 12
for heinous crime'
Pulling corruption on a par
with heinous offences, the
Supreme Court ruled on
MondaythatEißs lodged by
Cal in Coalgate undervarious
sections of Prevention
of
Corruption Act cannot be
quashed bythe high courts
and the accused will have to
face trial afterthe completion
of investigations. Pl
Mines, ministryof mines and
half of the mineral-bearing
private firms that secured ii-
offshore
cences
to explore minerals in
the sea bed of Bay of Bengal
firms belonging to his kin.
This is not Aggarwal's
and Arabian Sea even when
they were not eligible.
first brush with the CBI. In
2003, CRI had chargesheeted
At the centre of the conis Ashok Aggarwal,
him for allegedly hatching a
to implicate Delhi jeweller Sub-
troversy
former
the
deputy
director of
Enforcement
Directorate. CBI sources say close to
blocks were given to
criminal conspiracy
hash Barjatya In a now-reFera case.
pealed
CII fmds
foreigii
hand behihd bid
to malign Rahul
Dhananjay Mahapatra
I iNN
New Delhi: The CBI on Monday Informed the Supreme
Court about the involvement
of a "foreign hand" to tarnish
Congress
Rahul
general secretary
Gandhi's image and
reputation by accusing hint of
abductingafictitltuswomn
The agency also claimed
that a petition in the Allahabad high court by one Kishore
Samrite
making
baseless
allegations against the Congress leader was "funded",
emphasizing that it had even
seized chits showing he received money
BEING TARGETED
the offensive content was uploadedon the websites.
"Those website owners
told CBI to come through the
proper legal channel," add!-
for paying law-
tlonal solicitor general Harm
Naval informed the court. He
Ifl its status r port, sub
mitted to the court in a sealed
covei the CBI said the woman
said CBI was considering issuance of letters rogatory
yers'fees.
Rahul was accused of abduct
ingdidnotexist, andhadbeen
conjured up in reports uploaded on three foreign websites,
which
Sami-ite
used
through indian courts to request officials in
those countries
for assistance in the Inwhen the SC stay
vestigation
order stopped further probe.
"During
questioning,
with an ulterior motive. "She
Is non-existent, her address Is
fictitious and there is no It-
Samrite said
cord
the litigation. The Investigatingofficer has recovered chits
whatsoever with the UP
or local bodies,"
the CBI informed a bench of
government
Justices B S Chauhan and
SwatanterKuman
The bench is hearing an
appeal by Samrite challenging the HC's decision to finposeafineofßssolaldjforffl
ing a frivoloith petition. SC
had stayed the HG order on
Aprilelastyeaz
On the HG's directions,
the CBI on Marchll last year
lodged an FIR against Samrite,
and
owners of the websites
unknown
persons
accusing them of conspira'
and booking them under sev-
the litigation
was funded. He has given the
CBldetailsofwhohadfUnded
money deposited by
hlmafterreceivingitfromthe
about
funders. The money was used
to pay lawyers," Raval said.
Samrite,afornierSPMLA
from Madhya Pradesh, had'
claimed that he had ified the
petition In the HC on the direction of top SP leaders. On
being
questioned
by
the
court, Samrite's counsel Kamini Jaiswal had lnforrned[
the bench that her client
hadj
filed the petition in2OlOonthe
direction of Si' leaders Mu-1
layam SinghYadav and Akhi-]
leshYadav
enl
sections of the Indian Penal Code, Including criminal
The UP government had
objected to the names of top;
defamation.
leaders of therulingpartybe-;
ing taken so casually Senior
Before the SC on April 6
stayed the HG order, the CBI
within 25 days had reached
the website owners located
abroad asking for details of
the IP addresses from
which
advocate Rakesh Dwivedi told'
the bench that Samrite was a
liar whose petition needed to
be thrown out without any
consideration of his plea.
Aggarwal's kin bagged 28 &f
62 offshore miningblocks'
Ntflb3UhafllTNN
Govt likely to issue rOme deallécatmon letters soon
New Delhi: Ashok Aggarwal, former deputy director of Enforce-
ministryislikelyto begin nextweekissuingdeallocationletters
Thecoal
to private firms whose mines were cancelled and those where bank
ment Directorate, who is alleged
guaranteeswere deducted forsitting idleon minesgiventothemfor
captive use, coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal on Monday said.
"Weare hopefulthatfrom nextweekwewill startissuingdeallocation
tobe involved inan offshore mining
licence scam, has earlier been
tried for possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources
of income.
-
Asfor thelatest case concerning
him, a CBI source told TOl, "Indian
Bureau of Mines officials did not
follow the laid down norms and
rules according to which only companies
with expertise in exploring
natural mines in the sea, having financial capability and technical
knowhow could be given offshore
blocks.
Some of
the
companies
lettersto all thosefirmswhosecoal blockswere deallocated and bank
guarantee deducted," Jaiswal said. He also said that sofarthe coal ministry
had deallocated seven coal blocks, while the government has yetto take a
call onthe recommendations of Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG)for
deallocation of anothersix coal blocks.
pm
28 of the 62 blocks which were allocated, as part of a maiden effort to
ration India TM Ltd (Bangalore),
PMB Rare Minerals India Pvt
explore offshore mineral wealth, In
Marchlast yeast Bombay high court
Ltd
and Andhra Pradesh
have stopped the
cences
high court
of ii-
tinal award
in resporik
to
petitions
which were given blocks had been
registered just months or, in some
seeking the scrapping of the entire
cases, a few days before they filed
theapplication."
Sources said each block, mea-
process.
(Bangalore), RVG Minerals
and Metals TM Ltd (New Delhi)
and Standard Metalloys Pvt Ltd
(NewDeihi).
The
companies
which
got
blocks In Arab Ian Sea include Apex
Metalloys Pvt Ltd (New Delhi), CG
chin Minerals and Ruffle Limited
about 800 sq km. was estimated to have huge unexplored
mineral wealth In the sea bed of
(Alwaye,
Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. 26
RVG
of the offshore blocks which were
awarded are in Bay of Bengal while
(New Delhi), UA Minerals Pvt Ltd
mining at the time of notification.
The manner in which these compa-
86 are In the Arabian Sea.
mil
nies were preferred over others in
shore blocks in Bay of Bengal in-
the fray for the lucrative contracts
needs to be investigated."
dude Andhra Minerals (Nagpur),
Out of these, CBI sources said
five companies
RVG Minerals,
AnIk Industries Ltd (Mumbai), IBC
Standard, Apex, RVG Metals and
Limited (Chennai), Kanyakumari
Minerals (Nagpur), PM GEO Explo
UA Minerals
He further said, "Some companies were registered just before applications. Others were incorporat-
ed after bids were invited,
and did
not haveany experience in offshore
Significantly,
longing to
companies
be-
Aggarwal's clan bagged
suring
The companies which
got off-
Kerala), Indian
Garnet
Sand Co (F) Ltd (Chennai), Rare (U)
Minerals Fvt Ltd (Tiruchirapalil),
Metals
and Alloys
TM Ltd
(New Delhi), Vetrivel Minerals
Nadu)
and
VIA Earth
flRe-
sourcesPvtLtd(Mumbai).
wal's brother
-
-
belonged to Aggar-
and son.
NDA coal block
allocations now
under CBJ lens
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Dethi: The CDI has decided to expand its probe into
Coalgate scam bringing units scanner all coal block
der
allocations made since 1993,
including the six-year NDA
rule,
after a reference in
thisregardwasreceivedfrom
the C VC.
Last week, coal minister
Shri Prakash ,Jaiswal wrote
toCentralVigilanceCommi&
sion seeking a CBI probe into
all coal blocks allocated since
1993 when the government
had started allocation to pri-
vate players
for captive usa
Seeking a CDI probe, Jaiswal also recently forwarded a
letter written by seven parlia-
mentarians to
the CVC say-
that blocks allotted
ing
be-
tweenl9g3and2004including
those given during NDA rule
should
be
investigated
by
CBI,
as allegedly favours
were done to parties under
politicalpressura
The letter of
sought enquiry
MPs also
as to what
system the government of India put in place for selection
DIGGING UP DIRT
BJP meet to focus
on UPA's misrule
BJP's national executive
The
and national council
meetings, beginning
Wednesday, are expected to
focus on the UPA government's
"1corruption" and economic
policy decisions and waysto
improvethe party's prospects
in assembly pollsslated in the
nextfew months. The
meetings, at$urajkund in
Hajyana, come againstthe
backdrop oftheUPA
of companies for coal block
government losing ally
allocation between
1993 and
2004andwhethertheseguide-
Trinamool Congress and a
larger opposition unity onthe
lines were followed
issues of foreign direct
investment in multi-brand
and how
were joint venture partners
selected.
The
CVC
referred
retail, hike in diesel prices and
the
complaints to CBI to probe
the matter and the agency
cap on subidized cooking gas
will soon begin its investigaCBI sources said.
FIRs against private compaflies and unknown public of-
The allocation of coal blocks
ficials for alleged misrepre-
to private companies for captive use started in 1993 when
sentation
Coal Mines (Nationalisation)
coal has allocated
Act, 1973 was amended with
blocks for captive mining of
the objective of attracting
private investment in speci-
blocks
fied end uses such as
were
tion on it,
power,
cement and steel because of
growing economy.
In its ongoing probe, CDI
has so
far registered seven
cylinders.
ANS
of
facts.
"Till
March 2011, the ministry of
142
which
were
194 coal
explored
and the balance
either regionally
plored
52
excoal
or unexplored
blocks," the CAG said in its
recent report on coal block allocation.
The Director, CBI, A.P, Singh, and the
Chairman, National Commission for
Minorities, Wajahat Habibullab, at a seminar
on ftansparent and Robust Vigilance
Mechanism', organised by CBEC, in New Delhi,
on September 21. Also seen in the picture is
Chairperson, CBEC, Praveen Mahajan