Coal blocks allocation case: court orders further probe

A special court hearing coal block allocation case against Navbharat Power Pvt. Ltd. (NPPL) and its officials, Wednesday directed Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct further probe in the matter.

Special Judge Bharat Parashar asked the CBI to conduct further probe in the case and file its progress report by Dec 16.

The court said: "...it is clear that but for the acts of omission or commission committed by the officers of ministry of coal or that of screening committee, M/s NPPL would not have succeeded in getting allotment of the impugned coal block in their favour on the basis of the misrepresentation made by them initially in their application form and subsequently at the time of making presentation before the screening committee or in the feed back form filled by them."

"Had the public servants involved in the process of allocation of coal blocks taken reasonable safeguards as was expected of them to protect the public interest, the misrepresentation made by M/s NPPL could have been easily ascertained from the documents available to the ministry of coal and screening committee viz. the report of the two financial experts from CIL, report of government of Orissa or that of ministry of power," the court said.

A charge sheet was filed against NPPL and its officials for allegedly misrepresenting facts, including inflated net worth, to acquire coal blocks in Rampia and Dip Side of Rampia in Odisha.

The investigating agency had also filed a supplementary final report in the case in September, saying no offence was found to have been committed by the public servants.

The court said: "It is for this reason that the impugned acts of omission of the public servants involved do not appear to be inadvertent."