What Was The Hurry to Close Birla Coal Case, Court Asks CBI

New Delhi: A Delhi court today asked the CBI to explain why it was in "in such a hurry" to close a case against top industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla over the allotment of a coal block to his firm, Hindalco, in 2005. The court also sharply rebuked the agency, asking it to "get its house in order" because it was unable to furnish important documents and answers sought by the judge.
 
At the end of last month, the agency closed a case against Mr Birla and former top bureaucrat PC Parakh that was part of the scandal dubbed "Coal-Gate" which exploded in 2012 after the state auditor alleged 1.86 lakh crores had been lost because mining licenses had not been assigned through a transparent bidding process.

The CBI filed the case against Mr Birla and Mr Parakh, the former Coal Secretary, in relation to a block allocated in 2005 to Hindalco Industries (HALC.NS), part of the $40 billion Aditya Birla Group led by Mr Birla. The agency said that Mr Parakh had over-ruled a government committee to assign the block to Mr Birla after he met with the entrepreneur. Mr Parakh has denied any wrongdoing and said Mr Birla presented a strong case for the coal blocks to be given to his firm, which had been the first applicant for them. 
 
The case against Mr Birla, a widely-respected industrialist, had  widespread condemnation from industry leaders and politicians alike given his stature as a leading Indian entrepreneur.

"The evidence collected during investigation did not substantiate the allegations levelled against the persons named in the FIR (first information report filed in the case)," the CBI had said in a statement while explaining its decision to drop the case. 

In August, the Supreme Court ruled that all coal blocks allocated by successive governments since 1993 are illegal. It has not yet indicated whether it will cancel all the allocations.