Coal Block Scam: HC Gupta’s Conviction And The Court’s Message To Bureaucrats 

“…not only all such acts of omission and commission committed by the accused Ministry of Coal officers were conscious and deliberate but can be clearly attributed to their attitude of ‘who cares'.”

Special Judge Bharat Parashar minced no words in concluding that former Coal Secretary HC Gupta, former Joint Secretary KS Kropha and former Director KC Samaria “used their position as a public servant in a manner in which it was not intended to be used”.

The three bureaucrats have, perhaps in a first in India, been found guilty of criminal misconduct by a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and sentenced to two years of imprisonment each by a special CBI court. The convictions follow the 2014 Supreme Court order that had held government allocations of 218 coal blocks as illegal and arbitrary but had left the door open for further investigations.

‘Malafide' Intent & Abdication Of Duties

The conviction of Gupta, Kropha and Samaria relates to the allocation of the Thesgora-B Rudrapuri coal block in Madhya Pradesh to Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Ltd.

The court relied on the provisions of the Manual of Office Procedure, the coal ministry's guidelines for coal block allocations and minutes of the meetings of the Screening Committee to conclude malafide intent and abdication of duties by the three bureaucrats.

The court concluded so on the following grounds:

• The entire working of the ministry of coal, in relation to the allocation of captive coal blocks, was completely ad hoc and casual in nature.
• Kamal Sponge's application seeking allocation of the Thesgora-B Rudrapuri coal block was incomplete as it was not accompanied with requisite documents. Therefore, according to the ministry's own guidelines on coal block allocation, it was liable to be rejected.
• As officers of the ministry and members of the Screening Committee, Gupta, Kropha and Samaria were well aware that the applications had not been checked for their completeness and eligibility in terms of the guidelines governing allocation of coal blocks.

Commenting on the order, former Cabinet Secretary TSR Subramanian told BloombergQuint that while the convicted bureaucrats may have defended themselves citing lack of time to examine all applications for coal blocks, at least the one application in this case that was finally sent to the prime minister, then also acting as coal minister, should've been vetted for eligibility.

Another former bureaucrat, requesting anonymity, argued that senior officers in the ministry are extremely busy and they cannot go into the nitty-gritties of each application. The details of eligibility, he said, are recorded at very a low level and if there is a mistake committed either by the applicant or someone in the lower rung of the ministry, it cannot become a crime attributable to senior bureaucrats.

Criminal Misconduct

The three bureaucrats have been found guilty under Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act that lays down grounds for criminal misconduct by a public servant.

The Section reads:

13. Criminal misconduct by a public servant.– (1) A public servant is said to commit the offence of criminal misconduct,-

(d) if he,-
(ii) by abusing his position as a public servant, obtains for himself or for any other person any valuable thing or pecuniary advantage; or
(iii) While holding office as a public servant, obtains for any person any valuable thing or pecuniary advantage without any public interest;

The court concluded that the three bureaucrats abused their position as public servants in order to obtain a coal block for Kamal Sponge.

Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave told BloombergQuint that he concurs with the court's conclusion.

Subramanian agreed too and added that for conviction under Section 13(1)(d), prosecution need not prove mens rea or guilty mind; the facts and circumstances establishing public loss are enough. ‘I think there was enough evidence for conviction under Section 13(1)(d)(i) and (ii),' he added.

Buck Stops With Bureaucrats?

The three experts quoted in this story opined that it was unfair of the court to stop at bureaucrats. They believe the then coal minister should be held accountable as well.

It's important to note that at the time of these allocations, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also in charge of the coal ministry and in 2015, the Supreme Court court had stayed Special Judge Bharat Parashar's order summoning him.

Interestingly, special judge Bharat Parashar also hinted that the arbitrary allocations could've been checked if applications were reviewed by the coal minister himself.

Dave agreed that the then coal minister was also responsible for the allocation and part of this large-scale conspiracy. And that he ought to have been indicted and convicted too.

Subramanian argued that even if Gupta didn't intentionally cheat the government, he failed to avert a scam.

This judgment sends bureaucrats a message that they are the custodians of public interest and looking the other way is not an option, he added.

Dave said that he hopes this judgment sends a “chilling message through the spine of an otherwise spineless bureaucracy” that India has today.