Former Coal Secretary P.C. Parakh has said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had implicated him in a false case without understanding the nuances of two coal blocks allotted to Hindalco Industries, owned by Kumar Mangalam Birla, in Talabira II in Odisha.
The investigating agency went by the premise that Hindalco was favoured by “reversing” a decision to allot the blocks to Neyveli Lignite Corporation, a government company. The agency had now found there was nothing wrong and decided to close the case against him and Mr. Birla, Mr. Parakh told The Hindu here on Monday.
Mr. Parakh said a screening committee had found both Hindalco and Neyveli equally eligible for allotment of these blocks. As the Secretary to the Ministry of Coal, he processed the proposal and recommended the case of the Neyveli Corporation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was handling the Coal portfolio, as it was a government company. At this stage, Mr. Birla approached him, and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wrote to the Prime Minister stating that Hindalco needed the blocks for a power project. Thereafter, the blocks were made a joint venture with a 50:50 share in coal output.
The Prime Minister had only approved the joint venture but no decision was taken on it. “There is no basis to say that the decision was reversed as claimed by the CBI,” he said.
Mr. Parakh, who created a storm 10 months ago by demanding that the Prime Minister also be booked as the latter was part of the conspiracy as alleged by the CBI, said the Supreme Court decision was a lesson to all parties in government to be transparent and ensure there was no arbitrariness in their policy decisions.
