Files of firms that lost race missing

[1]

K.C. Singh [1]

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation, probing the Coalgate scam, suspects that around 157 private companies were allegedly eliminated irregularly to favour the ineligible beneficiary companies in the allocation of captive coal blocks.
Among the key missing files are copies of 157 private companies who had applied for the captive coal blocks but were not allocated the same.
“Despite repeated reminders by the CBI, coal ministry has not provided copies of 157 private companies which had applied for 45 blocks between 1993 to 2005. This issue was discussed even in a high level meeting called to examine the non-availability of files or documents related to  allocation of coal blocks, chaired by the additional secretary (coal) on July 16 at the ministry’s office in Shastri Bhawan,” sources said.
Sources further said that the only reply the agency sleuths got from the coal ministry was that it had requested all ministries concerned or departments to help trace the missing records.
However, sources said the agency would not register any case with regard to the missing files suo moto and would wait a formal reply from the ministry.
Meanwhile, with the Opposition targeting the government missing files issue, top Congress leadership including party president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh  and coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal attended a core group  meeting in which it was told that several files were traced and only eight remained untraced.
Jaiswal is understood to have given a detailed briefing on the issue.  He is understood to have said that 769 files and other documents were given to the CBI by the coal ministry, sources said.