Ex-Coal Secy Gupta kept Manmohan in dark: Court

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was kept in the “dark” by then Coal Secretary HC Gupta, who had prima facie violated the law and the trust imposed on him on the issue of coal block allocation, a special court said on Thursday.

Ordering the framing of charges against Gupta and five others for their alleged roles in the allocation of coal block to Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Ltd (KSSPL), the court noted the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) allegations that Gupta had withheld complete and proper information from the Prime Minister Office (PMO) on the matter.

“Thus, when accused HC Gupta withheld complete and proper information from the PMO either in his comments made, while submitting the recommendation of the Screening Committee, or in the meeting held with TKA Nair (principal secretary to PM), so the contention of senior public prosecutor that Minister of Coal (Singh) was also kept in dark by him does not appear to be without force,” Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar noted in his order.

“Accused HC Gupta thus prima facie acted in violation of the duty so imposed upon him and also in contravention to the directions of law, in which such trust was to be discharged,” the court said, while posting the case for October 14 for formal framing of charges.

Besides Gupta, the court ordered framing of charges against two senior public servants – KS <g data-gr-id="31">Kropha</g> and KC <g data-gr-id="32">Samria</g> – KSSPL, its Managing director Pawan Kumar Ahluwalia and chartered <g data-gr-id="29">accountant</g> Amit Goyal.

<g data-gr-id="37">Kropha</g> was the then Joint Secretary in the Ministry of <g data-gr-id="25">Coal,</g> while <g data-gr-id="38">Samria</g> was the then director (coal allocation-I) in the ministry.

The court ordered to put the six accused on trial for the alleged offences under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) of the IPC and under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, observing that prima facie charges were made out against them. The case pertains to alleged irregularities in the allocation of Thesgora-B <g data-gr-id="44">Rudrapuri</g> coal block in Madhya Pradesh to KSSPL.

In its 56-page order, the court noted that being the then chairman of the Screening Committee, Gupta was well aware that the Minister of Coal will proceed to accord approval primarily on the basis of the recommendation made by the committee or the comments, if any, made by the ministry.

“Thus, accused HC Gupta not only in his capacity as Secretary (Coal) but also as chairman, Screening Committee, abused his position in furtherance of the criminal conspiracy hatched with the other accused persons so as to facilitate allocation of impugned coal block in favour of accused company M/s KSSPL in contravention of the guidelines issued by Ministry of Coal (MoC),” it said.