Ministry of Coal gives contradictory replies about applications for coal allocation
2 Sep, 2013An application was filed with the Ministry of Coal under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get the details about the applications received by the ministry for allocation of coal blocks during the period from 1993 to 2004.
The reply to the application from the ministry states that in the said period, the allocations were made on the basis of identification done by the prospective allocates. Hence, no data was maintained regarding the applications received for allocation. The reply from the ministry also stated that files pertaining to 1,422 applications received for 38 coal blocks after 2006 are in custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). However, sources indicated that CBI is still awaiting the application files from the ministry.
The high level committee formed by the ministry to look into the issue of missing files has a different answer to the question of number of applications. Replying to a question about the he committee copies of all applications received for 45 coal blocks allocated from 1993-2005 sought by the CBI, the committee said that the director (administration), ministry of coal, has been requested to trace the records.