Former PMO official deposition sealed ex-coal secretary’s fate
, ET Bureau|
Dec 18, 2017, 12.31 AM IST
New Delhi: Senior IAS officers and the IAS Association have vouched for the honesty of former coal secretary HC Gupta but the special Central Bureau of Investigation court's order sending him to jail for three years says he "actively", "deliberately" and "consciously" concealed facts from the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The deposition of Vini Mahajan, who was joint secretary in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) at the time, effectively sealed Gupta's fate as she told the court that the principal secretary to PM, TKA Nair, had chaired a meeting with Gupta in 2008 where Nair was told that the proposal to allot a coal block in Jharkhand to a company was based strictly on merits of the applicants.
Mahajan later put up a note the following day to PM Singh who approved the allocation. Gupta claimed ignorance of this meeting while deposing in court and raised the point why Nair was not examined by the prosecution. But the court ruled that it stands proved "beyond shadows of all reasonable doubts" that Gupta made "conscious efforts" even in a meeting held at the PMO before minutes of 36th screening committee were put up for approval to the PM not to disclose true and correct facts.
"Any stand being now taken by Gupta claiming ignorance about any such meeting having taken place or not is clearly an afterthought and primarily taken with a view to wriggle out of yet another wrong representation made by him in PMO," the court further said in its judgement dated December 13.
The judgement, however, said that that neither was it alleged by the prosecution nor any such evidence was available to show that Gupta obtained allocation of a coal block for the accused company by any corrupt or illegal means.
While pressing for a lenient sentence, Gupta also said that as per the prosecution case itself there has been no allegations against him of any nature whatsoever that any financial gain was obtained by him.
The deposition of Vini Mahajan, who was joint secretary in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) at the time, effectively sealed Gupta's fate as she told the court that the principal secretary to PM, TKA Nair, had chaired a meeting with Gupta in 2008 where Nair was told that the proposal to allot a coal block in Jharkhand to a company was based strictly on merits of the applicants.
Mahajan later put up a note the following day to PM Singh who approved the allocation. Gupta claimed ignorance of this meeting while deposing in court and raised the point why Nair was not examined by the prosecution. But the court ruled that it stands proved "beyond shadows of all reasonable doubts" that Gupta made "conscious efforts" even in a meeting held at the PMO before minutes of 36th screening committee were put up for approval to the PM not to disclose true and correct facts.
"Any stand being now taken by Gupta claiming ignorance about any such meeting having taken place or not is clearly an afterthought and primarily taken with a view to wriggle out of yet another wrong representation made by him in PMO," the court further said in its judgement dated December 13.
The judgement, however, said that that neither was it alleged by the prosecution nor any such evidence was available to show that Gupta obtained allocation of a coal block for the accused company by any corrupt or illegal means.
While pressing for a lenient sentence, Gupta also said that as per the prosecution case itself there has been no allegations against him of any nature whatsoever that any financial gain was obtained by him.
