Coal scam probe: PM is the "competent authority" mentioned by CBI, says former Coal Secretary PC Parakh

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation's  (CBI) first information report or FIR in the coal scam names a "competent authority" responsible for reversing the decision to allot a coal block from the state-run Nevyveli Lignite Corporation to Kumaramangalam Birla's Hindalco.

Former Coal Secretary PC Parakh, who has been named in the FIR, now says its Dr Manmohan Singh. "Normally competent authority in respect to any government department is the minister in-charge and at that point of it was the Prime Minister, " Mr Parakh  told NDTV.

In a case registered this week, the agency says two coal blocks in Odisha were illicitly granted in 2005 by PC Parakh to Hindalco, an aluminium-making company owned by  industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla. The agency says that Mr Parakh's decision was endorsed by "the competent authority."

The CBI says that the Prime Minister's Office has not been cleared yet in the probe of how under-priced coal licenses were given away without a transparent bidding process. (Read: PM's Office under the scanner)

On Tuesday, the CBI filed a First Information Report or FIR - the first step towards formal charges - that accused Mr Parakh of conspiring with Mr Birla to land two coal blocks in Odisha through "undue favours." Both  Mr Birla and Mr Parakh have denied the charges.

Mr Parakh has said that as Coal Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh took the final decision on the allotments. He has asked the CBI to explain why the PM has not been named as an alleged co-conspirator. The CBI says that during initial rounds of questioning, Mr Parakh was not able to offer a satisfactory explanation for his actions, and that he did not implicate the Prime Minister. (Read: Parakh's explanation unsatisfactory, says CBI)

Mr  Birla, who met Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday evening, said they had discussed the FIR filed against him by the CBI in the coal scam "among other issues." (Read) The soft-spoken and media-shy chairman of the $40 billion Aditya Birla Group spoke to reporters after the meeting and said, "I have done nothing wrong. I am not worried about the FIR."