The court also convicted former Coal Secretary H C Gupta and former Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Coal (MoC), K S Kropha, for criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating, and corruption in the case
Nagpur: A Delhi Court on Friday convicted Nagpur-based company Grace Industries Ltd. (GIL) and its Director Mukesh Gupta for criminal conspiracy and cheating in a coal scam case related to irregularities in allocation of a coal block in Maharashtra. The court also convicted former Coal Secretary H C Gupta and former Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Coal (MoC), K S Kropha, for criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating, and corruption in a coal scam case, according to reports by news agencies.
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Thursday 07 Nov. 2024
Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj posted the matter for August 4, when the court will hear arguments on the quantum of sentence to be awarded to four convicts. The case relates to the allocation of the Lohara East coal block. This is the 11th conviction in coal scam cases secured by the prosecution. The convict persons face a maximum of seven-year jail term while the company faces the imposition of the fine.
Reports said that H C Gupta was earlier convicted in three other coal scam cases and his appeal against those convictions is pending before Delhi High Court. He is currently on bail, along with other convicted persons in the case. In its judgement on Friday, the court noted that H C Gupta made three misrepresentations in discussions with the Principal Secretary to the then Prime Minister.
In the first instance, he gave a false impression that the Screening Committee’s decision to allocate coal blocks among competing applicants was based on inter-se priority, the court said, adding that again, he concealed information that GIL’s application was not sent to the Ministry of Steel (MoS)for its mandatory comment. He further made misrepresentations regarding recommendations for the company’s power plant. H C Gupta was the chairperson of the then Screening Committee.
The court noted that the Secretary had received a complaint letter making serious allegations against the accused company which were supported by documentary evidence. “In ordinary circumstances, it should have set alarm bells ringing. But nothing of the sort happened. The letter was given a quiet burial in MoC,” the judge noted. He said that in the light of alarming information received by the Secretary, the normal course of action should have been to give urgent directions on the letter before marking it to the Joint Secretary for promptly processing the same and putting up with a detailed note.
“The Secretary and the Joint Secretary, both senior officers, were steel frame of the country. Not only no noting for prompt action was noted on the complaint letter but they never cared to follow it up and never enquired from the Section (concerned for action on the letter) the fate of the complaint letter,” the judge said.
The fact that the Secretary/the Joint Secretary simply marked a serious complaint without any direction for prompt action on the same tantamount to silence on their part, the judge noted, adding that it was an important circumstance against public servants for proving the charge of criminal misconduct. He further noted that the Screening Committee ignored the views of the state government as well as the MoS, without giving any “detailed reason” or “justifiable grounds” for the decision, and that the committee did not follow guidelines laid down by itself.
The judge further noted that excess coal allocation was made in favour of GIL in spite of the fact that the excess allocation was brought to the notice of HC Gupta and Kropha by one Murli Agro Products Limited. Regarding the company, the court observed that it made false claims before the Screening Committee about its net worth and the existing production capacity of its sponge iron plant.
