Coal block allocation to Hindalco was in national interest: CBI

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said in its closure report that the allocation of a coal mine to aluminium maker Hindalco was taken in the interest of the country and in view of its federal legal framework.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said in its closure report that the allocation of a coal mine to aluminium maker Hindalco was taken in the interest of the country and in view of its federal legal framework.

HT Online had first broken the news on the CBI filing a closure report on the case saying it didn’t find criminality and gave a clean chit to the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, Kumar Mangalam Birla, and former coal secretary PC Parakh.

Birla, Hindalco and Parakh were named in the First Information Report filed by the agency in October 2013, claiming that the firm was allowed to share the coal blocks at the expense of a public sector firm.

"The decision to accommodate the said firm of Mumbai in Talabira-II coal block in partial modification of the recommendation of the 25th meeting of the screening committee was found to be a case of incorporating both the views of the screening committee and the government of Odisha, taken in larger interest of the country and in view of the federal legal frame work wherein most of the statutory clearances are accorded by the concerned state government," the closure report stated.

"We will close the case since no criminality was found," director of the CBI, Ranjit Sinha, had told HT on Monday.

HT was the first to report on October 16, 2013, a day after the case was registered, that the agency was not probing any quid pro quo. A day later, HT had reported that the CBI was ready to close the case if no irregularity was found.