Ministry to submit final report on missing files to CBI by Sept 13

Missing papers have triggered controversy with opposition parties allege that ruling UPA trying to hide details of allocations

The coal ministry today said it will submit its final report on the missing coal allocation files to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) by 13 September.

The issue of missing documents has created a political controversy with opposition parties alleging the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is trying to hide details of allocations.

The coal ministry today conducted a review of the efforts by multiple inter-ministerial search teams to locate the documents sought by the CBI on 2 September and 3 September.

“In this regard, CBI has been informed about the documents that could be located. Further update will be furnished in the next 2-3 days and a detailed report will be submitted by 13 September,” the ministry said in a release.

Senior officials of ministries of coal, power, steel, Department of Industrial Policy and promotion (DIPP) and representatives from Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Limited (CMPDI) and Coal India Limited (CIL) attended today's meeting.

The teams had searched for documents in their respective ministries, the coal ministry’s earlier office in Lok Nayak Bhawan, in the Ranchi office of CMPDIL and in the offices of CIL, including its subsidiary companies.

The coal ministry had earlier constituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee under its Additional Secretary AK Dubey to locate the documents sought by the probe agency. The Committee has held five meetings so far. Five search teams were constituted later.

The Supreme Court had on 29 August directed CBI to furnish a comprehensive list of documents which are yet to be received from the government.

The apex court had asked the government to make the documents available in two weeks. The CBI had then provided a fresh list of documents to Attorney General (AG) Goolam E Vahanvati to be forwarded to the ministry containing outstanding papers yet to be furnished for the probe in alleged irregularities in coal block allocations between 1993 and 2009.

The new list contains 26 papers related to allocations for over two dozen companies including Tata Sponge Iron Ltd, Sunflag Iron & Steel, Adhunik Corp, Jharkhand Ispat, Rathi Steel & Power, Pushp Steel & Mining and Bhushan Power & Steel.

The list also contains a recommendation letter from former Member of Parliament (MP) Vijay Darda, forwarded by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), for allocation of Bander coal block to AMR Iron & Steel and a report of Coal India’s experts on the financial strength of applicant companies.