Did not influence anyone to give coal block to Birla: Manmohan
3 Oct 2015 6:49 AM IST
He also told the investigating agency that he had neither <g data-gr-id="34">promised,</g> nor gave any assurance to industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla about the allocation of the block in Odisha to his firm HINDALCO.
Singh, who was holding the portfolio of the Coal Ministry in 2005, said he only forwarded the letters of Birla and Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik in this regard to the Ministry for careful examination.
“On being asked, I state that I do not recall having told anyone in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to issue reminders, other than the noting of my PS. It is a routine administrative matter. The Prime Minister does not go into these issues. Anyway, I had already stated that I did not try to influence anybody and that there was no undue haste in arriving at the decision,” he said.
While Birla had written letters requesting the government to “change the decision” of not considering HINDALCO for the coal block, Patnaik had requested a review on the decision. Singh, who has been summoned as accused by a special CBI court in the case, in a statement to the <g data-gr-id="51">agency</g> has said that recommendation of the Ministry to accommodate HINDALCO was approved by him.
The Supreme Court had on April 1 stayed the trial court’s order summoning Singh and others, including Birla and ex-Coal Secretary PC Parakh, as accused in the case.
In his statement recorded before the CBI, Singh said he had received <g data-gr-id="48">a May</g> 7, 2005, letter from Birla, urging the government to allocate Talabira-II block to his firm as it would enable them to set up a large aluminium plant in Odisha.
“I knew of the decision that I had already given the approval to the Secretary (Coal) to approve the minutes of the 25th SC (screening committee) at his level. The letter of Mr Birla was merely forwarded to the MoC (Ministry of Coal) with instructions to get a report,” he told the CBI.
“I gave no promise or assurance to Mr Birla that coal block would be allocated. The request of Mr Birla was to change the decision and the matter was whether or not it should be re-opened or not,” Singh said in a statement, which has been placed on record before the court by the CBI.
As per the 25th screening committee, the case of <g data-gr-id="37">number</g> of companies, including HINDALCO, was not considered favourable and it had decided to allocate the Talabira-II coal block to Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd (NLC).
Singh also told CBI that Birla had written two letters in support of his request, which he had asked the PMO to send to the Coal Ministry for a report.
“It is thus clear that as Coal Minister and PM, I did nothing more than merely forwarding the letters of Kumar Mangalam Birla for examination by the Coal Ministry. Kumar Mangalam Birla had requested for the allocation of a coal block,” he said.
“It was only fair that his representation on the matter <g data-gr-id="42">be</g> carefully examined. I did no more than this. I repeat that I did not seek to influence the assessment and report of the Coal Ministry in processing Birla’s representation at any stage,” Singh said.
‘Gupta aware that Coal Min will go by recommendations’
Former Coal Secretary HC Gupta, who headed the Screening Committee on the allocation of coal blocks, was “well aware” that the Coal Minister would go by the panel’s recommendations in the matter, a Delhi court has observed.
The court’s observations came as it ordered framing of charges against Gupta and five others in a case pertaining to alleged irregularities in allocation of Thesgora-B <g data-gr-id="87">Rudrapuri</g> coal block to Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Ltd. In 2007, then PM Manmohan Singh was also holding the Coal Ministry portfolio, when the firm had applied for the block. The court noted that being the Coal Secretary and also chairman of screening committee, Gupta was “well aware that the Minister of Coal will proceed to accord approval primarily on the basis of recommendation made by the screening committee.”
Next Story
