Coal Secretary Took File to PMO, Was Snubbed
Former coal secretary tried to ensure transparency in the allocation of coal blocks through bidding. He was rebuffed.
P. C. Parakh tried to ensure transparency in the allocation of coal blocks through bidding. He was rebuffed.
Former coal secretary P. C. Parakh, who proposed auction of coal blocks to bring in transparency, took the auctions file to the Prime Minister’s Office ( PMO) in July, 2004, after being rebuffed by minister of state for coal ( MoS) Dasari Narayana Rao. INDIA TODAY has learnt from unimpeachable sources that Parakh went to the Prime Minister after Rao said that allocating coal blocks through the bidding process would have a direct bearing on price of power per unit. It effectively demolishes PMO’s attempts to put distance between Manmohan Singh and the exploding coal scandal.
The file, however, was returned to Parakh by the then principal secretary TKA Nair, after raising a few technical queries. This was the first of many delays. Nair argued that the existing method of allocation, however arbitrary and unfair, should be allowed to continue. And the method continued till 2011, notwithstanding that Parliament passed the amendment to the Mines and Minerals ( Development and Re- gulation) Act, 1957, in August 2010. The law made it mandatory for the government to hand out coal blocks only through competitive bidding. Auction rules, however, could be notified by the coal ministry only in February this year.
Parakh insisted a transparent regulatory system, which could be put in place within 12 weeks, would streamline the process of awarding coal blocks. It was scuttled by bureaucrats “in cahoots with politicians”, says a source involved in the decision- making process during that period. Parakh made a second attempt to convince the mandarins of PMO before he retired in December 2005, but to no avail.
When contacted in Hyderabad, Parakh refused to comment, saying he would place his views only before the Public Accounts Committee ( PAC), when it takes up the CAG report on the subject.
PMO sources, however, reject the charge that Nair had raised queries while returning the file. “It is true that Rao raised several queries on the coal secretary’s file. Among them was his contention that auctioning coal blocks would lead to a dramatic rise in power tariff. The MoS, in September 2004, sent an unsigned note to PMO, incorporating Parakh’s views on auction and his counterpoints. The PMO, after going through it, forwarded the note to the coal secretary,’’ say PMO sources. Parakh persisted with his efforts, and submitted a draft Cabinet note to Rao on September 25, 2004, which effectively trashed the objections raised by the junior minister.
The delay in adopting the bidding route was exploited by politicians, who used the arbitrary process to seek allocations of coal blocks for friends and financiers. As the five FIRs registered by CBI in the scam on September 3 showed, former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, now languishing in Ranchi Central Jail for his
alleged involvement in multiple cases, and Congress MP Vijay Darda used their clout to swing the allocation of coal blocks to firms in which they had either direct or indirect stakes.
Koda’s role can be traced to Vijay Joshi, who is among the 20 persons named as accused in the five FIRs registered by CBI on September 3 against five firms— JAS Infrastructure, JVL Yavatmal Energy, AMR Iron and Steel, Navbharat Power, and Vini Iron and Steel Udyog. Vini was initially promoted by the Kolkata- based Tulsyan family which sought a coal block in 2006. The file was sent for approval to the Jharkhand government, then headed by BJP’s Arjun Munda. It wanted the screening committee to reject the application. But when the panel met in late 2007, Jharkhand chief secretary P. P. Sharma, who represented the state government, recommended the allocation of the Rajhara ( North) coal block to Vini. “In the interregnum, the firm’s ownership had changed. It had passed on into the hands of Joshi, who is known for his proximity to Koda,” highlyplaced CBI sources said. Koda had by then become the chief minister of Jharkhand. Notings with the ministry of corporate affairs reveal that by 2011, Joshi held over 97 per cent of company shares in Vini. He is already facing Enforcement Directorate’s probe for laundering Koda’s money abroad.
CBI has registered cases of criminal conspiracy and cheating against Vijay Darda, his younger brother Rajendra Darda, who is education minister in the Prithviraj Chavan government in Maharashtra, his son Devendra Darda, the Jayaswal brothers— Arvind, Manoj and Ramesh— and their relatives Abhishek Jayaswal and Anand Jayaswal. Jayaswals, a Nagpur- based family, run Abhijeet Infrastructure. Cases of misusing their offices have also been filed under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Vijay Darda has been accused of influencing the screening committee to approve allocation of three coal blocks in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra to firms in which his family had direct stake. CBI has booked three firms— JLD Yavatmal Energy, JAS Infrastructure Capital, and AMR Iron and Steel— owned by the Dardas. It has accused them of misleading the screening committee about their net worth.
Rejecting the allegations, the Darda brothers claim they quit JLD Yavatmal Energy in 2009 and 2008 respectively. “JLD Energy had sought a coal block 60 km from the proposed site of the plant. However, we were allotted a coal block 600 km away. So I left the company in 2009. I will fully cooperate with CBI and I am confident that we will come out clean,” Vijay Darda said in Lokmat on September 5.
“I never used my position to influence the allotment of coal block,” he says. The Congress MP, however, did not elaborate on the shares in JAS Infrastructure. But Rajendra Darda has clarified he has no links with JRD Yavatmal Energy. “I bought the company’s shares valued at Rs 1 lakh in 2006 and gave up the shares in 2008. I have no connection with that company,” he said. BJP National Secretary Kirit Somaiya ridiculed Rajendra’s argument. “He pulled out of the company only after it was allotted a coal block. Why did he not insist on returning the coal block?” Somaiya asked.