BJP slams JPC nominations
After the government managed to get nominated member Ashok Ganguly’s name passed by a voice vote in the din in the Rajya Sabha as a JPC member, the BJP said it was “an attempt to influence the JPC report”.
Insisting that the Chair should reconsider the appointment of Dr Ganguly and a debate be held in the House on whether the “winner takes all”, the party said government went against the principle of proportional representation in this case. The BJP wrote a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairpe-rson Hamid Ansari asking him whether the proportional representation rule will be followed in future committees or the “ruling party will have its say.” In the letter, Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley lodged a protest against the government putting a nominated member in the JPC to ensure its majority and alleged that this move is aimed at “rigging” the panel’s report, sources said.
The BJP alleged that the government moved the motion to appoint Dr Ganguly to the JPC for a vacancy created by DMK member T. Siva, which should have either gone to the AIADMK or TMC. The vacancies were created after the retirement of Mr Siva and resignation of Congress member E.M.S. Natchiappan after becoming a minister.
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Letters of PMO, DarDa missing: SCRidhima Malhotra
New Delhi, Aug. 29
During the hearing of the Coalgate scam, the judges noted that among the documents missing are letters from Congress MP Vijay Darda for the Bander Coal block in Maharashtra, forwarded by the PMO to the coal ministry. Referring to certain portions of the status report, the bench said, “crucial reports of financial experts of Coal India Ltd on financial positions of applicant companies are missing from ministry of coal.” The bench said there cannot be any “justification for the missing files” and that the CBI will carry out the probe despite an inter-ministerial committee formed by the Centre to look into the issue.
Criticising the CBI for slow pace of investigation into the case, the court remarked that the agency was still in the “first gear” and needed to pick up speed. “You (CBI) have to pick up some speed. The pace of inquiry is not good. You are still driving in the first gear. Your’s is a huge task and all these need to reach the logical conclusion... During 2006-2009, 85 coal blocks were alloted involving 169 companies. In your status report, only 37 companies have been covered so far,” the bench said.
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