Coal news and updates

Coal scam: CBI to file fresh status report in Supreme Court today

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is all set to file a detailed status report in the Supreme Court today on its probe into the alleged irregularities in coal blocks allocation.

The status report is on the progress made in the probe by the agency by December 31. The CBI has been asked by the Supreme Court to probe all allotments made since 1993.

Though the report will be submitted in a sealed cover, sources say the report is likely to say that the CBI has finished investigations in six FIRs out of 16 registered so far.

These FIRs pertain to the period when Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh held the charge of the Coal Ministry.

Sources say the report is likely to say that in certain coal block allocations, no criminality has been found and accordingly, these can be taken out of the probe and that all missing files on the coal scam have been found.

The CBI, which is probing the coal block allocation scam, alleges that for several years, the government gave away mining licences arbitrarily, without a transparent bidding process, at the cost of thousands of crores to the country. (Read: 'Yes, something had gone wrong,' government admits in Supreme Court)

The controversy has seen the Opposition repeatedly targeting the Prime Minister, who was in charge of the Coal Ministry between November 2006 and May 2009.

Source: NDTV