Former Coal Secretary H.C. Gupta on Wednesday told a Special Court that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took the “ultimate decision” as the then coal minister in allocation of the coal blocks.
Mr. Gupta, an accused in the case pertaining to alleged irregularities in allocation of Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to Kolkata-based Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd. (VISUL), said Dr. Singh had the “final authority” to take decisions.
Mr. Gupta’s claim came a week after a similar statement by former Minister Dasari Narayan Rao, who had also alleged that the decision on final allocation “was taken by the Minister of Coal who was the then Prime Minister”. Mr. Rao is an accused in another case relating to the allocation of coal block to Congress leader Naveen Jindal’s group firms.
During the arguments on framing of charges on Wednesday, Mr. Gupta’s counsel argued that he was chairman of screening committee and was empowered to only recommend allocation of blocks whereas the minister-in-charge of the Coal Ministry was the “final authority” who took the decision.
“The ultimate power to allocate coal block was with the then Prime Minister of India [Dr. Singh], who was also the Coal Minister at that time,” Mr. Gupta’s counsel told Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar.
During the hearing, lawyers for some of the co-accused also advanced their arguments on framing of charges. The court fixed the case for May 29 when CBI’s prosecutor will rebut the arguments of the accused.
