In the coal block allocation scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case on Thursday against ‘unknown officials’ of a public sector company, Karnataka Power Corporation (KPCL), and three private companies, for allegedly ignoring their joint venture clauses to give huge monetary gains to the latter.
The case relates to alleged irregularities in allocation of six coal blocks based in Maharashtra — Kiloni, Manora Deep, and Baranj-I to IV, allocated to KPCL in November 2003.
The agency on Wednesday conducted searches at a location each in Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata and Nagpur in connection with the case. Agency sources said along with officials of KPCL, unknown officials of a Bangalore-based joint venture company, Karnataka Emta Coal Mine, private company Emta, Kolkata-based Gupta Coalfields and Washeries (presently known as Gupta Global Resources) and others have been named in the First Information Report.
The charges include cheating, criminal conspiracy and criminal misconduct by government officials. This is the agency’s 39th FIR in the coal block allocation scam. “It is alleged that the officials of state PSU who had been allocated the blocks had shown undue favour to the joint venture (JV) partner entrusted with the work relating to mining of coal from the allocated blocks,” a CBI spokesperson said.
The agency further alleged the accused had “deliberately ignored and overlooked” the JV conditions related to quality certification of coal by an independent inspection agency, “thereby causing huge undue pecuniary advantage to the private partner”.
“Further, joint venture company Karnataka Emta Coal Mine, in conspiracy with the private company engaged in washing of coal, in violation of the ministry of coal guidelines relating to rejects generated by the washery, had sold the rejects without permission,” the agency alleged.
