Coalgate: CBI hails Birla, gives him clean chit

NEW DELHI: The CBI which accused industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and former coal secretary PC Parakh of irregularity in the allocation of a coal block to Hindalco, has told the court that its investigation showed that Hindalco was given the coal mine “in larger interest of the country”.
In its report to the court seeking the closure of prosecution of Birla and Parakh, CBI has, in fact, praised the industrialist for generating around 1000MW of electricity from the captive power plants run on coal it sources from Talabira coal deposits.
The CBI, echoing former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has also cited Odisha government’s support for the allocation of Talabira coal deposits and country’s federal scheme, to justify its clean chit to the leading industrialist and the former coal secretary. The agency has said that under the “federal legal frame work” issues of “mining lease, prospecting licence and most other statutory clearances including acquisition of land, provision of water etc” are all done at the level of states.
The case, stemmed from the decision of the union coal ministry under former PM Singh to hive off Talabira coal deposits, which were exclusively earmarked for public sector company Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC). The CBI had alleged that the competent authority — legalese for the then PM who held the charge of the coal ministry and the ministry brass — were guilty of irregularity because the diversion of Talabira coal deposits thwarted NLC’s plan to set up a power plant.
Hindalco chief Kumar Mangalam Birla. (TOI file photo by Mohammed Asad)
If the case generated headlines because of the profile of the accused and because the charges directly concerned the former PM, the findings offer a stark contrast to the allegations leveled against Birla, Parakh and others. The serious nature of charges had forced the reticent Manmohan Singh, who was never questioned during the course of investigation, to issue a statement defending the allocation of coal block to Hindalco, and aggressively denying the charge of illegality.
This and Parakh’s offensive put the CBI on the backfoot, leading it to clarify that it was bound by its charter to probe the decision to disregard the decision of the screening committee under the coal ministry- the mechanism which supposedly had the final say in the matter — to reserve the Talabira deposits for NLC.
CBI told the court that the “allegation could not be substantiated”.

Former coal secretary PC Parakh. (TOI file photo by Ramoorthy P)
The agency said the “decision to allocate 15% of Talabira II and III blocks to Hindalco in partial modification of the recommendation of the 25th meeting of the screening committee was by incorporating both the views of the screening committee and the recommendation of the government of Odisha expressed by the CM Odisha (Naveen Patnaik) in his letter”.
It said, ”facts and circumstances submitted … do not disclose any illegality or malafide on the part of Shri KM Birla for pursuing the matter for allocation of Talabira II coal block with the concerned public servants”. The closure report, details of which were accessed by TOI, said, “It (allocation) was not done in secrecy or under inducement but in public.”
In its closure report submitted in the court of special Judge Bharat Parashar, the CBI said, “In view of the above mentioned facts, it’s humbly submitted that no evidence of criminal conspiracy, dishonest intention or criminal misconduct by public servant has emerged against the persons named in the FIR or otherwise. It is therefore respectfully prayed that the instant report may be accepted and the matter be closed.”