Press Note January 10, 2014
PM, Coal Minister Should Resign – Hansraj Ahir
*Govt Agrees Irregularities In Coal Block Allotment
*Huge Financial Loss To Government Treasure
*Coal Blocks Be Taken Back and Allotted to CIL and Govt Companies
The nation was rocked with the Coal Scam and there was hue and cry all over the country for the heavy loss of the revenue of the government as these coal blocks were distributed among the private companies free of cost, overlooking the guidelines of the government and the Ministry of Coal in the matter and the whole exercise was done to make hands wet with the private companies and get personal benefits.
In the beginning the government denied that there was any scam in the allotment of the coal blocks and there was no loss of the revenue to the government coffers. But after some time the government started accepting the mistake step by step and now the stage has come that the government accepted before the Supreme Court that there was irregularity in distribution of the coal blocks.
I had been pursuing the issue from the year 2006 and now the government, Attorney General has agreed before the Supreme Court that there was mistake. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), Inter Ministerial Group (IMG) had taken steps to cancel some of the coal blocks.
The Supreme Court has also reprimanded the government, Coal Ministry on the issue. The government had to agree that there was irregularity in the matter and the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Shreeprakash Jaiswal, Coal Minister should take the moral responsibility and resign from the post without thinking for a single second.
Besides this, P Chidambaram , Finance Minister, Kapil Sibal, Law Minister, Salman Khurshid, Minister for External Affairs had always said that there was not irregularity and the government fetched no financial loss in the allotment of the coal blocks. They too need to come forward and give resignation for wrong protection of the government and misguiding the masses of the nation.
The government should come forward and take immediate action to cancel the coal blocks allotted to the private companies, free of costs with vested interest and see that the coal blocks are taken back and given to the government companies and the PSUs which had demanded to give the coal blocks and are craving for the same and were deprived due to the dubious interest.
Man Who Took on Manmohan
BJP MP Hansraj Gangaram Ahir raises voice against UPA government over coalgate scam
Devesh Kumar August 31, 2012 | UPDATED 14:49 IST
BJP MP, Hansraj Ahir
"The Government did not even bother to encash their bank guarantees, rather, it offered safe passage by allowing them to withdraw their guarantees," Ahir told india today.
The unassuming parliamentarian is busy unearthing more dirt. "Even after the notification of amendment to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, three more blocks were given to private players," he says. Ahir's latest target is Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, whom he has accused of handing out 35 blocks after May 2009 without even getting them cleared by the screening committee.
The third-time MP, whose constituency is home to several coal blocks, wants cancellation of all 196 blocks allotted till now, to both private firms and government entities "free of cost, and in a completely arbitrary manner".
The fact that he has been a member of the standing committee on coal and steel since 2004 helped. "During one of the meetings in 2005, a coal ministry official said Coal India had failed to meet its capacity and private players would be brought in to bridge the gap. But the coal blocks were being allocated to private firms free of cost. It was then that I decided to dig the issue deeper," he says.
| Coal blocks were being allocated to private firms free of cost. It was then that I decided to dig deeper into the issue, says BJP MP Hansraj Ahir. |
Ahir has lost count of the number of letters he has written to the Prime Minister on the subject. "I have a record of 13 letters, but there's more."
by Devesh Kumar
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/hansraj-gangaram-ahir-bjp-mp-from-chandrapur-maharashtra-takes-on-manmohan-singh/1/215563.html
Coal block allocations: India Inc pleads for SC mercy
NGOs want all illegal allocations cancelled, new companies to take over equity of old allottees
SC asks to cancel pre-2005 stuck coal allocations; 29 blocks affected due to forest hurdles
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday nudged the government to cancel all pre-2005 coal block allotments to private entities stuck for years over forest or environment clearances at the state level, saying these should be treated on par with allocations made in 2005. These had remained allocations on paper and were never granted any leases.
This came after Attorney General GE Vahanvati pointed out that 47 coal blocks had been allocated to the private sector in 1993-2005. Out of these, 17 were granted mining leases.
The other 29 were stuck at various stages in forest or environment clearances with states despite substantial investments, he said, citing the example of a mine that was allotted by the Centre in 1998, but was yet to be cleared by Odisha.
"Allocations up to 2005 stand on a different footing," said Vahanvati, who had conceded the argument yesterday on the post-2005 allocations.
This prompted Justice RM Lodha, presiding over a threejudge special bench dealing with coal block allocations, to wonder why the Central government had not cancelled them yet.
"If the majority were held up at forest or environment clearances, then cancel it. Why not take up the cases of these 29 along with the post-2005 allocations," Justice Lodha asked. "Fifteen years have passed but no mining leases have been granted. Surely, they cannot continue indefinitely?" Vahanvati agreed with this contention saying that they could not continue in "suspended animation".
He said that he would convey the court's views to the government while seeking more time to deal with the issue of post-2005 allocations.
If the government was to cancel all post-2005 allocations, it would escape court scrutiny on why the process of changing the law to make auctions a must was deferred from 2004, when it was first mooted, and 2010, when it was finally made a law.
This came after Attorney General GE Vahanvati pointed out that 47 coal blocks had been allocated to the private sector in 1993-2005. Out of these, 17 were granted mining leases.
The other 29 were stuck at various stages in forest or environment clearances with states despite substantial investments, he said, citing the example of a mine that was allotted by the Centre in 1998, but was yet to be cleared by Odisha.
"Allocations up to 2005 stand on a different footing," said Vahanvati, who had conceded the argument yesterday on the post-2005 allocations.
This prompted Justice RM Lodha, presiding over a threejudge special bench dealing with coal block allocations, to wonder why the Central government had not cancelled them yet.
"If the majority were held up at forest or environment clearances, then cancel it. Why not take up the cases of these 29 along with the post-2005 allocations," Justice Lodha asked. "Fifteen years have passed but no mining leases have been granted. Surely, they cannot continue indefinitely?" Vahanvati agreed with this contention saying that they could not continue in "suspended animation".
He said that he would convey the court's views to the government while seeking more time to deal with the issue of post-2005 allocations.
If the government was to cancel all post-2005 allocations, it would escape court scrutiny on why the process of changing the law to make auctions a must was deferred from 2004, when it was first mooted, and 2010, when it was finally made a law.