Civil society may move court against block allocation

The Anna Hazare-led India Against Corruption (IAC), which was the first to allege a direct link between the coal allotment scam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on Sunday said it was mulling over filing a judicial petition for a thorough investigation into the issue.

The Anna Hazare-led India Against Corruption (IAC), which was the first to allege a direct link between the coal allotment scam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on Sunday said it was mulling over filing a judicial petition for a thorough investigation into the issue.

HT Image

"We demand the cancellation of coal block allotments. An FIR should be immediately lodged and an independent Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted, failing which we will file a public interest litigation in court and carry out a referendum to expose the government," IAC activists Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan said.

"We first raised the issue on May 25. All our allegations have come true. The government is running away from truth after having been exposed by the

CAG report. All parties are involved in it because screening committees have representatives of states also," Kejriwal said.

The remarks of the IAC member came two days after a CAG report said the exchequer lost around R1.86 lakh crore due to coal block allocation without competitive bidding.

The decision to consider taking the matter to court was taken at a meeting attended by Kejriwal and Bhushan.

BJP attacks PM
Meanwhile, the BJP held PM Manmohan Singh 'directly responsible' for the 'loss' and demanded his resignation. "When the 2G scam happened, it was said then telecom minister A Raja was responsible for it, and the PM may have had an indirect role. In the coal scam, the PM is directly responsible," BJP leader Arun Jaitley said.