Former Coal Secretary H C Gupta, who also headed the screening committee on allocation of coal blocks to various firms, was "well aware" that the Coal Minister would go by the recommendations of the screening panel in the matter, a Delhi court has observed.
The court's observations came as it ordered framing of charges against Gupta and five others, including two senior public servants, in a case pertaining to alleged irregularities in allocation of Thesgora-B Rudrapuri coal block to Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Ltd (KSSPL).
In 2007, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also holding the Coal Ministry portfolio when the company had applied for the block.
The court noted in its order that being the Coal Secretary and also chairman of screening committee, Gupta was "well aware that the Minister of Coal will proceed to accord approval primarily on the basis of recommendation made by the screening committee or the comments, if any, made by the Ministry of Coal (MoC)."
Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar said the MoC officials were duty-bound to scrutinise applications seeking allocation of coal blocks so that they could make a reasonable classification amongst the applicant firms.
He observed that MoC officials, through a simple scrutiny of documents filed by the firms, could have shown that these were incomplete and could not have been considered by the screening committee to recommend allotment of coal blocks.
"It was rather the duty of the MOC officers to consider the applications of different applicant companies in an objective manner and to make a reasonable and discernible classification amongst them after ascertaining their eligibility and completeness in accordance with the guidelines promulgated by the MOC," the court said in the order.
The issue of non-scrutiny of applications had cropped up during arguments on framing of charges in the case, with the accused saying there were hardly 4-5 officers in the concerned section of the Ministry to deal with about 1,400 applications and it was "humanly impossible" to scrutinise them.
Besides Gupta, the court has ordered framing of charges against two senior public servants, K S Kropha and K C Samria, firm KSSPL, its Managing director Pawan Kumar Ahluwalia and chartered accountant Amit Goyal.
The court ordered to put these six accused on trial for the alleged offences under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) of the IPC and under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act observing that prima facie charges were made out against them.
