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With the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) role being questioned, the coal block allocation scandal that was in the news last year has surfaced again. The Opposition has asked the Prime Minister to resign for corrupt activities. On 17 August 2012, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in a draft report accused the United Progressive Alliance government of allocating coal blocks in an inefficient manner during the period 2004–2009. The government auditor said the decision to allot 57 coal blocks to 75 cherry-picked private firms instead of ordering an auction has cost the exchequer Rs 186,000 crore. The report created a massive uproar in political circles with the government being heavily criticised for causing a huge loss to the exchequer.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court took a very serious note of the CBI affidavit on the coal block allocation scam and asserted that the premier investigating agency must be "liberated" and should not be controlled by "political masters". The apex court also slammed the probe agency for having kept the court in the dark on the issue.
Here are 10 big developments in this story
. 1) Hours after the apex court flayed the CBI for allowing the government to vet a crucial document on its coal investigation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Union law minister Ashwani Kumar, who is accused of demanding changes to the report. Sources said the law minister did not offer to resign at the short meeting.
. 2) The Prime Minister said: "I have not studied the Supreme Court's observations. Whatever action is called for will be taken after studying it."
. 3) Following the comments of the apex court, CBI director Ranjit Sinha went into a huddle with his senior officers to decide the future course of action. Sinha said the agency welcomes the SC's observation. "We will comply with the court order and will file a fresh affidavit with all the explanation desired by the apex court," Sinha told a television news channel.
. 4) The court said the CBI director has to explain why the agency had asserted through Additional Solicitor General Harin Raval that the March 8 status report had not been shared with anyone. The judges said the CBI chief has to specifically state if the draft report was shared with any one other than law minister, joint secretary from the Prime Minister’s Office and the coal ministry, as mentioned in the affidavit.
. 5) Union coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal defended the Prime Minister saying the government as well as the Congress party fully back the PM. "There was complete transparency in coal block allocation. Because of the Karnataka elections, the Opposition parties are playing politics," Jaiswal said.
. 6) "The public spat between the attorney general and the additional solicitor general on how, who pressurised whom on the CBI report on coalgate is not only saddening but also very, very regretable," BJP deputy leader in Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
. 7) Left parties stopped short of seeking the resignation of the Prime Minister after the SC’s observations on coal allocation scam but asked him to face Parliament as he "owes an answer" to the country. However, they demanded the ouster of Ashwani Kumar. Forward Bloc secretary G Deverajan said no other Prime Minister has faced such criticism from the apex court.
. 8) According to The Hindu, Additional Solicitor General Harin Raval on Monday night blamed Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati for “interference” and the CBI sharing its ‘status reports’ in the case with Ashwani Kumar despite the SC making it clear that the report should not be shared with anyone in the government. In his letter to the AG sent late at night, Raval, according to highly placed sources, said he had been made a scapegoat in the whole controversy and that the truth would prevail. When the newspaper, asked Raval to explain his position, he merely said: “I have done no wrong. Truth will prevail.” He did not elaborate.
. 9) On 26 April, CBI chief Ranjit Sinha submitted before the SC that the agency's status report on coal allocation scam was "shared" with law minister Ashwani Kumar "as desired by him" and that senior officials of PMO and Coal ministry had also seen it.
. 10) On 27 August 2012, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has been under direct attack from the Opposition, finally broke his silence. “The observations of the CAG are clearly disputable,” the Prime Minister said in his statement in Parliament amid rising Opposition din. The Prime Minister stressed that that the policy of allocation – as opposed to auctions – had existed since 1993 and previous governments had also allocated blocks in precisely the manner that the CAG has now criticised.
Union finance minister P. Chidambaram defended the government’s position by questioning rhetorically: “If coal is not mined, if it remains buried in mother Earth, where is the loss?” He attempted this defence after the CAG highlighted the potential loss to the exchequer from the sale of the coal blocks.
Union finance minister P. Chidambaram defended the government’s position by questioning rhetorically: “If coal is not mined, if it remains buried in mother Earth, where is the loss?” He attempted this defence after the CAG highlighted the potential loss to the exchequer from the sale of the coal blocks.
The CBI had identified 12 private firms that may have been shown undue favours when coal mines were allocated by the government between 2006 and 2009.
