By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, AUG 24, 2013: WHILE replying to questions in the Rajya Sabha yesterday, the Coal Minister, Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal, said that the in the coalgate scam case, the CBI has registered three Preliminary Enquiry cases and 13 FIRs since May, 2012 regarding alleged irregularities in allocation of coal blocks made since 1993. The CBI after registering the PEs requisitioned files in original from the Ministry of Coal. It would be wrong to describe all these as “files”, he added.

The Minister said that so far nearly 769 files/documents/other papers in original have been handed over to the CBI for investigation comprising of as many as 497 files, 163 applications, 40 agenda papers, 10 feedback-form booklets and 33 miscellaneous documents, running into more than 150,000 pages in aggregate. Also, 26 CDs have been handed over to them. As investigation progresses, if additional documents are called for by the CBI, the Ministry would supply them to CBI and, if any document is not readily available, it shall make every effort to trace and supply the same to the CBI.

In response to the letter of Ministry of Coal dated 11.07.2013, requesting CBI to indicate list of specific documents which need to be furnished as well as informing CBI regarding formation of an inter-ministerial committee for the purpose of locating records / documents, the CBI sent a consolidated list of documents that were yet to be made available to them vide their letter dated 14 August 2013. These documents may be broadly classified into:

• 43 files;

• 19 applications of coal block allocatees/applicants;

• 157 applications of private applicant companies who had applied for allocation of coal blocks prior to 28.06.2004 but have not been allocated coal blocks;

• 17 other documents; and

• clarifications on 9 points.

The Minister said that the position regarding the above is as under:

• Of the 43 files, 21 have already been handed over to the CBI, 15 are available for handing over and CBI has been requested to collect the same. Efforts are being made to locate the rest 7 files.

• Out of 19 applications, 3 applications have already been made available to CBI. The remaining 16 applications along with 157 applications mentioned above are being searched.

• Out of the 17 other documents, 06 have been supplied, 02 are available for handing over and 09 are being searched.

• Moreover, the clarifications sought in nine cases would be made available to the CBI shortly.

A detailed letter stating the latest status has been sent today to CBI in response to their letter of 14 August 2013.

With regard to the reports that a very large number of files are reportedly missing, the fact of the matter is that 497 files have already been handed over to CBI. As indicated above, only 7 files remain to be made available to CBI as on date. The balance is copies of applications and other connected documents.

For the purpose of tracing these records, the Minister had on 11th July, 2013 constituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee under the chairmanship of Additional Secretary (Coal) with representatives from Ministries/Departments of Power, Steel, Industrial Policy & Promotion as well as Coal India Ltd. (CIL) and Central Mine Planning & Development Institute Ltd. (CMPDIL. It is possible that many of these papers are available in the records of the various Ministries/ Departments and government bodies such as Ministry of Power, Ministry of Steel, Central Electricity Authority, and the Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Limited that were associated in the process of coal block allocations, the Minister said while adding that the mandate given to the committee is to examine and review non-availability of any file or document and suggest appropriate action for locating the same. The committee has held three meetings so far and requested the members to locate the copies of documents/applications in their respective organizations. It is possible that some of these could be located and handed over to the CBI in the next few days.

"To conclude, I would like to say that firstly, it would be wrong to classify any file or document as missing at this stage when an inter-ministerial committee is actively engaged in locating these papers. Secondly, it would be wrong to say that a large number of files are missing as there are only a handful of files yet to be located and handed over to the CBI. Thirdly, if we are finally unable to locate some papers, the Government will ensure that due investigations are carried out and guilty brought to book,'' he emphasised.