Besides, two officials of the Cement Research Institute, Ballabhgarh (Haryana), who had visited the plant after the tragedy would face charges for causing disappearance of evidence and giving false information to shield offenders.
On Monday, the additional district and sessions court directed offences to be framed for culpable homicide not amounting to murder against the 15 accused including BALCO officials Viral Mehta, Deepak Narang, Atul Mahapatra, as well as Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation's (SEPCO) Woo Chunan, Wang Qung, Lyu Jansan and Gannon Dunkerley and Company Ltd's (GDCL) Manoj Sharma, Alok Verma and Sunil Singh, public prosecutor Ranjana Dutta told PTI.
Three other officials of the Cement Research Institute, M N Ansari, R K Goswami and (late) U K Mandal were also charged for causing disappearance of evidence of offence, Dutta said.
On September 23, 2009, a chimney which was being constructed at BALCO's 1,200 MW power plant came down crashing during rains, killing 40 people and injuring several others.
GDCL was carrying the construction for SEPCO, which had received the contract from BALCO.
Earlier, police had registered charges against the accused under Section 304, 324 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 326 (causing grievous and permanent injuries), 201 and 34 (common intent) of the IPC, Dutta said, adding that the court had removed Section 324, 326 and 34 of the IPC.