BJP questions merit of govt probe into mining scam

The BJP has questioned the merit of investigation being conducted by the state government into the case of alleged illegal mining by Ram Bahadur Thakur Limited (RBT) in Keonjhar district of Orissa. The party reiterated its demand for a CBI enquiry into the matter, which has been in the eye of a storm for more than two months.

Addressing media persons here, Dharmendra Pradhan, the BJP national general secretary, said, “The state steel and mines secretary issued a show cause notice to Chaturbhuj Sharma belonging to one of the factions of RBT despite the fact that the person died on September 7 this year. None of the representatives of either factions of the company turned up for hearing before the secretary which was scheduled for today.”

Terming the departmental enquiry being conducted by the steel and mines secretary in the case as ‘farce’, Pradhan demanded his removal.

Earlier, several members of the state legislative assembly had raised the issue of illegal mining of iron ore and manganese by RBT at Joda in Keonjhar district.

The BJP leader said, Brij Mohan Sharma, the person belonging to one of the sparring factions of the company, who had issued the power of attorney to one Shakti Ranjan Das, was yet to be arrested or even issued a show cause notice.

However, the steel and mines secretary, Ashok Dalwai, trashed all allegations saying that the department has been fair and transparent in issuing notices to the rival factions of RBT. “The process of administrative enquiry into the RBT case started in August this year and the show cause notice to Chaturbhuj Sharma was issued then. After knowing of Sharma's death, we have now issued a notice to his son for the next round of hearing which is scheduled for October 16”, he told Business Standard.

Dalwai said, the son of Chaturbhuj Sharma had informed through a letter that one SN Das Mohapatra would submit all the documents in the court on behalf of their faction.

It may be noted that three rounds of hearing have so far been completed in the RBT case. In the last hearing held on September 23 this year, the son of Chaturbhuj Sharma had appeared stating that the faction headed by his father had been allotted the mines of RBT as per the guidelines of the company law board. Meanwhile, the other faction led by the deceased Chaturbhuj Sharma claimed to have the stay order of the Patna High Court in its favour.

The state government had started an administrative enquiry into the RBTY case to ascertain the real owner of the company, to check whether the company was liquidated or not and also to investigate whether the power of attorney issued to Shakti Ranjan Das was valid or not. Two factions of RBT- one led by Chaturbhuj Sharma and the other by Brij Mohan Sharma were at loggerheads over ownership issues. Each faction of RBT had two directors and a former judge was its chairman.