Coal case: No sanction received to try public servant, says CBI

The CBI on Thursday told a special court here that no action has been taken till now on grant of sanction by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to prosecute two public servants for their alleged involvement in a coal block allocation case.

The case pertains to alleged irregularities in allocation of a coal block in Rampia in Odisha to Navbharat Power Pvt. Ltd. (NPPL).

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told Special Judge Bharat Parashar that no action has been taken by the competent authority on the request of issuing sanction to try then joint secretary in the coal ministry K.S. Kropha and then director (Coal Allocation-I section) in the ministry, K.C. Samaria for the alleged offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI said that over four-and-half months have elapsed since the records were sent to the competent authority.

It requested the court to proceed further, deeming that sanction has been granted to prosecute the accused in terms of the judgment passed by the Supreme Court.

The court posted the matter for July 22 for further hearing.

A chargesheet was filed last year against NPPL and its officials for allegedly misrepresenting facts, including inflated net worth, to acquire coal blocks.

The court on November 12 directed the probe agency to conduct further investigation in the matter, observing that the act of then senior officials of the coal ministry in overlooking alleged misrepresentation by the NPPL for acquiring the coal block prima facie amounted to criminal misconduct.