New Delhi: Former Coal Secretary H C Gupta and two others were Monday summoned as accused in a coal scam case by a special court, which noted that the bureaucrat had prima facie facilitated allocation of a Madhya Pradesh coal block to Pushp Steels and Mining Pvt Ltd resulting in loss to the government.
The court also summoned Pushp Steels and Mining Pvt Ltd (PSMPL) and its director Atul Jain as accused for August 3 for alleged offences under section 120B (criminal conspiracy) read with section 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) of the IPC and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar said prima facie Gupta, who was also the Chairman of Screening Committee, by virtue of various "acts of omission and commission", had facilitated the allocation of Brahmapuri coal block in Madhya Pradesh to PSMPL to the detriment of all other applicant companies.
"Clearly, H C Gupta in his capacity as Secretary (Coal) was heading the Screening Committee and was thus entrusted with dominion over various coal blocks to the extent that recommendation for allocation of various coal blocks to different applicant companies was to be made by the Committee headed by him and as constituted under his Ministry," the court said.
It further said, "thus prima facie by virtue of various acts of omission and commission as discussed above he (Gupta) facilitated allocation of Brahmapuri coal block in favour of M/s PSMPL to the detriment of all other applicant companies."
"Not only loss was caused to the other applicant companies but also to Government of India as valuable nationalised natural resources of the country i.e. Coal stood allotted to a company by dubious means," it said in its 15- page order.
While taking cognisance of CBI's charge sheet, the court also summoned Gupta for prima facie substantive offence under section 409 of the IPC, which entails life term as maximum punishment, and under provisions of the anti-graft law.
CBI had chargesheeted these accused in a case pertaining to alleged irregularities in allocation of Brahmapuri coal block to PSMPL.
CBI alleged that PSMPL was recommended for allocation of Brahmapuri coal block by the screening committee headed by Gupta without there being any recommendation in its favour either by state government or by administrative ministry, that is Ministry of Steel, at the relevant time.
However, the Steel Ministry later found that the firm was eligible.
In its charge sheet, the agency claimed that minutes of screening committee were "completely silent" as to in what manner the inter-se priority of various applicant companies was considered and how PSMPL was found to be more suitable as compared to others firms.
It also said that when the then Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was also the Coal Minister then, had discussed the basis of recommendation with Gupta, he had "submitted wrong facts which were not even mentioned in the application submitted by PSMPL".
"Thus, it was found that Gupta stated wrong facts to Principal Secretary to Prime Minister for justifying the recommendation of the Screening Committee qua M/s PSMPL," the agency had said, adding that the recommendation in favour of PSMPL was made in complete violation of laid-down guidelines for deciding the inter-se priority of applicant companies.
CBI also claimed that Gupta had stated that PSMPL has been allotted iron ore mine but no such mine was ever allotted to the firm and the total net worth of its group companies was only Rs 3.01 crore, which was insignificant, apart from the company not having any experience in steel manufacturing.
The agency had said that end-use project for which coal block allocation was sought by the firm was stated to be a sponge iron project at Durg district in Chhattisgarh.
It said that Madhya Pradesh government had recommended M/s Satna Power Company Ltd for Brahmapuri coal block but the screening committee, in a September 22, 2006 meeting presided by Gupta, recommended PSMPL for allocation of block.
It also referred to the note of the then Minister of State for Coal, Dasari Narayan Rao, who had said that since Steel Ministry has held PSMPL not eligible, it would be appropriate that the block be reconsidered for allocation to the next eligible applicant in the Ministry.
CBI, in its charge sheet, also alleged that PSMPL's file was submitted to the then Prime Minister and Director in the Prime Minister Office (PMO), Vini Mahajan, put up a January 19, 2007 note in which she observed that though screening committee has recommended PSMPL for allocation of the coal block, Rao has made certain observations regarding it.
"She (Mahajan) accordingly stated that the recommendations of the Screening Committee qua which Minister of State for Coal (Rao) is in agreement may be approved and that case qua the remaining coal blocks will be put up subsequently. The said note came to be approved by the Prime Minister on January 30, 2007," it said.
CBI also said that in another note in February 2, 2007, Mahajan said that in case of Brahmapuri coal block, eligibility of PSMPL may be first got confirmed from the Ministry of Steel.
Later, Steel Ministry again examined the issue and it was observed that the application of PSMPL for Brahmapuri coal block was initially not received by them from the Ministry of Coal and only the applications of the company for other three coal blocks in Jharkhand were received by it.
Ministry of Steel then said that PSMPL was found to be not eligible for the coal blocks in Jharkhand but after going through its application for Brahmapuri coal block, it was found to be eligible, the agency said.
CBI further said that pursuant to the communication from the Ministry of Steel, the file was again submitted to PMO and the Prime Minister, as Minister of Coal, approved allocation of Brahmapuri coal block in favour of PSMPL on June 12, 2007.
CBI also said, "from the over all facts and circumstances of the case it is clear that Gupta who was Secretary Coal and Chairman, Screening Committee conspired with M/s PSMPL and its director Atul Jain in order to ensure allocation of Brahmapuri coal block in favour of M/s PSMPL in violation of all guidelines laid down in this regard and against the recommendation of State of Madhya Pradesh and Ministry of Steel."
