With the CBI terming the issue of “missing files” related to the coalgate scam as a matter of “serious concern”, chief of the probe agency on Sunday said that the Supreme Court would take a final view on the developments.
Talking to this newspaper, CBI director Ranjit Sinha on Sunday said, “The matter is being monitored by the SC and the hearing in the case is scheduled on August 29. We will file a detailed status report in the matter and it is entirely on the apex court to take a final view on these developments”. The SC has directed CBI to furnish a fresh report by August 29 on the status of investigations into the coal scam cases up to August 25.
Union coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal on Saturday admitted that some files related to the coal blocks allocation scam have gone missing.
The minister said the files between 1993 and 2004 are missing. “It is true that certain files related to coal block allocations, from 1993 to 2004, are missing. We are trying to recover these files from the other ministries. If they have the files, they should make it available,” Mr Jaiswal told reporters in Kanpur. A committee headed by an Additional Secretary of the coal ministry is inquiring into how the files have gone missing. It will also coordinate with other government departments for tracing their copies of the missing files, said the minister.
The SC on August 6 asked the government to make available to the CBI any file sought by it relating to the coal block allocations, saying that all authorities must cooperate to ensure a fair and impartial probe into the allocations.
Meanwhile, the agency is likely to register cases against senior officials of the Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh governments as part of its probe into the Coalgate scam. “At least 70 captive coal blocks were allocated to central and state public sector units (PSUs) between 1993 and 2009. The CBI sleuths have scrutinised documents of at least 25 coal blocks allocated to state government-run PSUs. Now the agency is preparing to initiate probe against senior officials of at least two state government—run PSUs,” sources said. The CBI in September, 2012 had registered its third “Preliminary Enquiry” (PE) to probe alleged irregularities in the allocation of captive coal blocks to central and state government PSUs during 1993 to 2009. The agency has so far registered at least 13 FIRs related to the coalgate scam.