Court directs CBI to further probe against ex-Coal Secy

The acts of former Coal Secretary H C Gupta and two other government officials overlooking the misrepresentation by Navbharat Power Pvt Ltd (NPPL) for getting coal block prima facie amounts to criminal misconduct, a special court today said directing the CBI to further investigate the case.
The court differed from the investigating officer's conclusion that no malafide intention was found on the part of government officials, saying it was prima facie clear that the decision of allocating coal block to NPPL was taken by the Ministry of Coal (MOC) officers and the Screening Committee without keeping public interest in mind.

"...I am of the considered opinion that the acts of MOC officers i.E. H C Gupta, Secretary MOC/Chairman, Screening Committee, K S Kropha, the then Joint Secretary, MOC/ Member Secretary, Screening Committee and K C Samaria, the then Director, MOC, prima facie falls within the four corners of the offence of criminal misconduct as defined in Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act," the judge said.
Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar, who kept pending final reports filed by the agency, ordered further probe in the case and directed it to file progress report on December 16.
This is the second time that the court has ordered further investigation in the case. Earlier, the court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate had refused to take cognizance of CBI's charge sheet against NPPL and its two officials and had directed the agency to further probe.

The court deferred the issue of cognizance against the private parties involved in the case till the report of further investigation is received.
"Thus in view of my aforesaid discussion 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," the judge said.

The acts of omission of the public servants involved does not appear to be "inadvertent", the court said.