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NLC, Hindalco equally entitled to coal block:ex-coal secy Parakh

Former coal secretary Prakash Chandra Parakh insisted on Wednesday (October 16) that there was nothing criminal or untoward about Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla's meeting with him over the allocation of a coal block to the group's company, Hindalco in 2005.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had on Tuesday named Birla, along with Parakh, in its 14th FIR relating to the coal scam, charging them with cheating, forgery and misrepresentation, noting that the coal block in Odisha, earlier with the state owned Neyveli Lignite Corporation was given to Hindalco on a sharing basis.

"Yes, Mr Birla met me and made his representation which I processed,"Parakh told Business Today in Hyderabad in an exclusive interview. "Mr Birla gave me his representation. He said that the screening committee's decision (to deny Hindalco a coal block) was not fair and should be reconsidered."

Should Birla have thus intervened? Parakh sees nothing wrong with the meeting. "A meeting with anybody who is aggrieved because of a decision does not become a conspiracy,"he said. "Even if it is a wrong decision it does not become a crime."

Parakh, 68, added that he was pained since there had been no wrongdoing. "There is a clear contradiction because as per the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, I had tried to, against all odds carry out the entire process of coal block allocation in a very transparent manner although it did not finally happen,"he said. "But having worked so tirelessly to bring in transparency and doing so much good to the coal sector during my tenure and to finally land up with these kind of charges, it certainly is disheartening."Indeed the CAG report had lauded Parakh as a whistleblower.

"I think my decision was fair because both the companies - Neyveli Lignite Corporation and Hindalco - were equally entitled to the block. Hindalco is no less financially or technically strong and both the companies were equally eligible. But Neyvelli as a government company could have been given any other coal block under the government dispensation, whereas Hindalco (as private company) could not be. It could only be given blocks which were earmarked as captive blocks. I don't find any reason to believe that Neyveli has in any manner lost in this case,"said Parakh.

Even if it was a wrong decision, it could not be characterised as a criminal one. "Every wrong decision is not a corrupt decision,"he added. "Even if this is a wrong decision there is no evidence to prove that there was any corruption involved."

On some Opposition parties' demand that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh too should be included in the investigation, Parakh said: "The short point is that this is a fair decision and there is no conspiracy or corruption in it. However, if it is being viewed as a conspiracy then everyone involved is a conspirator. If the CBI feels that there is a conspiracy then I, Mr Birla and the Prime Minister are the three crucial points - Mr Birla's representation, my processing of it and the Prime Minister's final decision.... investigate everybody and not just me and Mr Birla."

Could this controversy have been avoided? "In my view they should have, as early as possible, brought in the system of bidding which would have been very transparent. The fact that it was unnecessarily delayed has created all this complications."

Source: Business Today