Coalscam: Nod to prosecute two govt servants awaited, says CBI

The CBI today told a special court that they have not yet received communication from Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on the issue of sanction to prosecute two senior public servants for their alleged roles in a coal blocks allocation scam case.
The agency informed Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar that as per guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court, the special court should presume that sanction to prosecute these public servants has been granted by the competent authority as more than four months have elapsed from the date when the file was sent to them.
Senior public prosecutor V K Sharma told the judge that CBI had sent the relevant files to the authorities in December last year in view of the court's November 12, 2014 order and they were waiting for their response on the issue.

The two public servants, against whom court had directed CBI to place records of the case before sanctioning authority for considering according sanction to prosecute them for the alleged offence under Prevention of Corruption Act, are K S Kropha, the then Joint Secretary of Ministry of Coal, and K C Samaria, the then Director in the ministry.
"It has been submitted by senior public prosecutor that pursuant to order dated November 12, 2014 directing further investigation in the matter, the CBI had sent records of the case to competent authority for considering according grant of sanction to prosecute two public servants," the court said.

"It has been submitted that since then, more than four and half months have elapsed and in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court...If within a maximum period of four months, as detailed herein, no decision is arrived at by sanctioning authority regarding grant or refusal of sanction, then the court shall presume that sanction has been granted," the court noted in its order.
The court also directed the agency to file report of its further probe conducted in the case and fixed the matter for May 15.
The case pertains to alleged irregularities in allocation of coal block in Rampia in Odisha to Navbharat Power Pvt Ltd (NPPL).