Coal ‘scam’: Delhi’s Special Court awards 3-year prison sentence to former official with Ministry of Steel

New Delhi [India]: The Special Court of Delhi on Tuesday awarded three years of rigorous imprisonment to Gautam Kumar Basak, former executive secretary of Joint Plant Committee (JPC), Ministry of Steel, under the Prevention of Corruption Act, in connection with a corruption case involving coal block allocation.

The Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj on Tuesday awarded three years’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh upon convict Basak.

This was the 14th conviction in coal related matters. The trial of this case was conducted by Sanjay Kumar, Deputy Legal Advisor, CBI.

The Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj last week had convicted Gautam Kumar Basak under Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988.

According to the CBI, the Union Ministry of Coal (MOC) in November 2006 invited applications from the companies engaged in the generation of Power, Steel and cement for allocation of coal blocks for captive power plants/independent power plants.

In response to the advertisement issued by MOC, a number of companies applied for coal blocks. M/s Prakash Industries Ltd. had applied for Vijay Central Coal Block situated in the state of Chhattisgarh. Earlier Chotia Coal Block was allocated to M/s Prakash Industries Ltd, said CBI.

The CBI added that in the application dated January 12, 2007 submitted to MoC, M/s Prakash Industries Ltd. had claimed its sponge iron production capacity as 8 MTPA.

Believing the claim made by M/s Prakash Industries Ltd., the Screening Committee of the Ministry of Coal recommended joint allocation of Vijay Central Coal Block in favour of M/s Prakash Industries Ltd. and M/s SKS ISpat Ltd. & Ors.

These recommendations were sent to the Prime Minister’s Office for final approval. In the meantime, complaints were lodged by M/s SKS Ispat Ltd., M/s Youth Anti-Corruption Bureau, and Om Prakash, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Samajwadi Party alleging that M/s Prakash Industries Ltd. has secured a recommendation of the Screening Committee by furnishing false information about its capacity.

In view of these complaints, the Ministry of Coal directed the Ministry of Steel to verify the claims made by M/s Prakash Industries Ltd. in its application.

Accordingly, Ministry of Steel directed Gautam Kumar Basak, Executive Secretary, JPC, Ministry of Steel to conduct on the spot verification of the plant of M/s Prakash Industries Ltd. at Champa, Raipur Chhattisgarh.

On September 4, 2008, Gautam Kumar Basak alongwith Soumen Chatterjee Manager, JPC allegedly visited the plant of M/s Prakash Industries Ltd. at Champa, Raipur Chhattisgarh and on September 5, 2008, submitted a false report supporting the claims of M/s Prakash Industries Ltd. and mentioning that M/s Prakash Industries Ltd. has four kilns and its spong iron production capacity is 8 MTPA.

This false report submitted by G K Basak was forwarded by the Ministry of Steel to the Ministry of Coal and the Prime Minister’s Office, said CBI.

Again M/s SKS Ispat Ltd. and M/s Youth Anti-Corruption Bureau (NGO) lodged complaints with the Ministry of Steel and the Ministry of Coal.

Ultimately one Inter-Ministerial committee was constituted by the Central government to find out the truth. This Inter-Ministerial committee conducted on-the-spot verification and concluded that M/s Prakash Industries Ltd. had furnished false information about its capacity in its application and G K Basak submitted a false verification report to support the claims made by M/s Prakash Industries Ltd.

In this matter, FIR was registered by CBI on April 7, 2010.