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Coal Block Allocation Case

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May 22, 2017

Why in news?

The three Coal Ministry officials, including former Secretary, were convicted.

Why were they convicted?

  • The secretary was the chairperson of the screening committee that recommended allocations.
  • It functioned for years without regard for guidelines, norms or transparency.
  • The three officials have been found guilty of abusing their positions to procure a coal block for Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Limited.
  • Special CBI Court has now ruled that Coal Ministry officials deliberately allowed an incomplete application from an ineligible company to be taken up for consideration.
  • The accused actually let all applications pass without any checking and arbitrarily exercised their discretion in favour of those companies.

What is the significance?

  • It is the logical consequence of the 2014 Supreme Court order declaring all coal block allocations made since 1993 illegal and arbitrary.
  • Two previous trials had ended in convictions, but those held guilty were officials of private companies who had deceived the authorities into allotting them blocks.
  • This judgment marks the first case in which individual criminal liability has been fixed on public servants in the coal block scam.
  • The verdict may become a benchmark for other ongoing prosecutions on similar lines.
  • The case also raises questions about the role and responsibility of a Secretary to the government, who is not only the administrative head of a department but also an adviser to the Minister on matters of policy.

 

Source: The Hindu

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