Coal scam: Supreme Court asks CBI to file five chargesheets by March 28
Hyderabad- The CBI after registering the First Information Report on September 3, 2012, had raided the houses of Y. Harishchandra Prasad and P. Trivikrama Prasad and offices in Malaxmi House, Hyderabad.The FIR was issued on allegations that they had embellished the net worth of the company without legal basis during the coal block allocation process.
Net worth is a key norm to determine the eligibility of a firm for coal block allocation. The coal ministry had kept a minimum net worth of Rs 50 lakh per mega watt of the maximum capacity of the proposed power plant as a pre-qualification criteria for applicant companies.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday directed CBI to file remaining five of the six charge sheets by March 28 in the coal block allocation scam, declining to grant more time sought by the agency for this purpose. The Apex Court also questioned the agency for delaying the filing of charge sheets despite recording a statement on February 10 that the charge sheets in six of the cases would be filed within three weeks.
“It (four weeks) is too much. This is no way. Why should it be delayed at all. You only said (on February 10) lawyers need to advise the agency,” a bench comprising justices R.M. Lodha, Madan B Lokur and Kurien Joseph said when senior advocate Amarender Sharan sought four weeks time to file the charge sheets on the ground that certain aspects needed to be gone into.
The bench, which at first wanted only to give two weeks extension to finish the nitty gritty of filing the charge sheets settled for March 28 after CBI made a fervent plea. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for an NGO, opposed the CBI plea, contending that it was intended to take it beyond the general election.
Subsequently, Rampia and dipside Rampia blocks were jointly allotted to six companies including Navabharat Power with a stake of 12.5 per cent. The CBI alleged that Navabharat Power with a proposed capacity of 2,240MW would not have pre-qualified for the recommendation of the power ministry but for the alleged cheating. The coal block allocation was made to the company in January 2008. Mr Harischandra Prasad, vice-chairman and MD, along with his relative and Navabharat Ventures MD P. Trivikrama Prasad, had started Navabharat Power in 2006.
Both entered into a definitive sale agreement with Essar Power Ltd in 2009-10 to sell their entire stake in due course of time. In the annual returns filed with the Registrar of Companies in 2010, Navabharat Power had stated: “Essar Power Ltd has entered into agreements with the existing promoters for acquisition of their total equity in course of time, making Navabharat Power a wholly-owned subsidiary of Essar Power Ltd.”
Essar Power had said that the acquisition was carried out in two phases in July 2010 and April 2011 for a total consideration of around Rs 230 crore.
