File photo of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
The decision to allocate a coal field in Jharkhand to industrialist Naveen Jindal's company was taken by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, two senior government officers accused of corruption said today in court.
In 2007, the Prime Minister held direct charge of the Coal Ministry. Dasari Narayan Rao was the Minister of State for Coal. Mr Jindal, a Congress leader, and he are among 10 people accused of manipulating the licensing process to ensure a coal block was given to Mr Jindal's steel company. The accused include former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda and HC Gupta, the former Coal Secretary who headed the committee that reviewed applications for coal licenses.
"The decision regarding the final allocation was taken by the Minister of Coal, who was the then Prime Minister. I had nothing to do with it," Mr Rao said through his lawyer.
The former Coal Secretary made a similar argument.
The CBI has suggested earlier in court that it does not suspect the intent of Dr Singh who asked the Coal Ministry to re-examine Mr Jindal's application after another firm claimed it was better qualified to get the coal license. The final call in Jindal Steel's favour, investigators have said, was taken by Dasari Narayan Rao.
The former PM has also been questioned in connection with alleged irregularities in the allocation of another coal block to a firm owned by one of India's most respected industrialists, Kumarmangalam Birla.
The 82-year-old was nearing the end of his second term as Prime Minister when his government was accused of a vast scam in coal mining rights. "Coalgate" was based on the national auditor reporting that 1.86 lakh crores were lost because private firms conspired with government officials to land underpriced mining rights.
The Supreme Court then cancelled nearly 200 coal licenses issued by different governments since 1993; they are being auctioned by the NDA government.