Make panel meeting minutes public on coal allotment: BJP

The BJP today demanded that the Centre should make public the minutes of screening committee meeting held to decide on coal block allocation during the UPA rule.

The BJP on Sunday demanded that the Centre should make public the minutes of screening committee meeting held to decide on coal block allocation during the UPA rule.

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"People should know the truth as to on what basis the coal block were sanctioned to private companies and this can be done if the documents pertaining to proceedings were made public," party spokesman Prakash Javadekar told reporters.

Responding to the statement by Union minister Kapil Sibal that representatives of the state government also attended the screening committee meeting, Javadekar said only one representative from the state government was entitled to attend the meeting without veto power.

"On the contrary, 10 secretaries of the central government and the minister of state for (MoS) coal attended (the meeting)," he claimed.

Javadekar said the government should not selectively leak letters written to the Centre by state chief ministers opposing coal block auction and should make public the communications received from all the 28 chief ministers.

He said it was "absurd logic" that Sibal was holding the state government responsible for implementing the decisions made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself in coal block allotments.

The monsoon session of Parliament failed to transact any business owing to "obstinate posture" of the government in not accepting the Opposition's demand for an impartial probe into the coalgate, he said, adding Prime Minister should own up responsibility in the matter.