Coal min submits detailed report on missing files to CBI

The coal ministry submitted to the Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday a detailed report on the missing files pertaining to coal block allocations, said an official.

"We have sent the report to the CBI on New Delhi," a coal ministry official said on the condition of anonymity. Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal did not make any commenton whether the files have been dispatched.

However, he said: "The instructions of the Supreme Court are being followed."

When asked about the details of the report that the ministry has sent to the CBI, the official said: "It is a confidential correspondence between the CBI and the ministry. I am sorry that I will not talk about it."

When asked as to when will the ministry file complaint with regard to the missing files, he said: "We will take action in accordance with the directions of the Supreme Court and as per the law and within the timeline which has been prescribed for us." Nearly 150 files and documents were to be received by the CBI from the coal ministry.

Senior officials attached with the probe had on Sunday said that every effort was made by CBI to locate documents and files that were seized during raids earlier. While hearing the case on August 29, the Supreme Court had directed the CBI to give a list of documents, files and information sought by it within five days to the coal ministry which, in turn, was to furnish them within two weeks.

The agency in its letter dated September 2 to Attorney General G E Vahanvati had given an exhaustive list of over 50 allocations, the files of which have not been received by it. The apex court had directed the coal ministry that that if any document remains untraceable, then FIRs have to be lodged by the Coal Ministry with the CBI within a week thereafter.

Holding that the missing documents are "vital" for the probe in the scam, the apex court directed the coal ministry to lodge complaint with the CBI if it fails to trace any document sought by the agency.