Coal case against Birla: name PM too, says former coal secretary Parakh

If there was a conspiracy to help industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla land two coal blocks in Odisha for his firm, then the Prime Minister must be counted among the conspirators, said former Coal Secretary PC Parakh on Wednesday.

"The PM cleared the decision, he is the third conspirator. He is the final decision-maker," Mr Parakh said, pointing out that Dr Manmohan Singh held direct charge of the Coal Ministry when the contentious mining rights were conferred on Mr Birla's firm.

On Tuesday, Mr Parakh and Mr Birla, who is among India's best-known industrialists, were accused by the CBI of cheating and conspiracy in 2005, a scheme that allegedly resulted in the undue favour of mining rights for Mr Birla's company, Hindalco, which makes aluminium.

The CBI is investigating how and why the government assigned valuable coal licenses to private firms without an auction or transparent bidding process. For some of the years under scrutiny, the Prime Minister was also Coal Minister, making the scandal hyper-sensitive for the government. The main opposition party, the BJP, once again said today that Dr Manmohan Singh should be investigated for his alleged role in "Coal-Gate."

Mr Parakh said that the committee headed by him, which decided on who would get coal licenses, reviewed two applications for the Odisha coal blocks. The first was from Hindalco; the other was from a state-run firm. Mr Parakh said the committee decided that the state-run company should get preference, and that after it shared its decision, Mr Birla met the Prime Minister and him separately to argue Hindalco's case.

"Mr Birla told the PM that we are the first applicant and are equally eligible and competent and our request has been unfairly rejected. He also met me and made a similar representation. I found there was merit because they (Hindalco) were the first applicant," Mr Parakh said today.