Coal scam: CBI gets two months to respond to Prakash Javadekar's plea

New Delhi: A special court on Wednesday granted Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) two months to respond to the objections of Union Ministers Prakash Javadekar and Hansraj Ahir against its move to close a coal scam case.

Special Judge Bharat Parashar allowed the probe agency's plea seeking time to reply to the ministers' petition in the case allegedly involving Prakash Industries Ltd (PIL) and others as accused. The court posted the matter for further hearing on May 5.

HRD Minister Javadekar and Minister of State for Home Ahir, who are complainants in case, had approached the court seeking rejection of CBI's closure report in the case and a direction to the agency to further investigate it and file a supplementary charge sheet.

Central Vigilance Commission had started its proceedings on the complaints made by both the ministers.

They had alleged in their petition that PIL had deliberately misrepresented facts to the 35th Screening Committee with the connivance of others to get the coal block in Chhattisgarh and that the CBI had wrongly accepted the claims made by the accused.

Their petition came in response to the court's earlier notice asking them if they wanted to submit anything on the final report in the case.

The court had issued notices to both the ministers after CVC Director Sanjay Agarwal had informed it that the anti-graft watchdog was not a complainant in the matter and had no role to play in the case. It was these two leaders on whose complaint the CVC had started its proceedings, he had said.

The court had said that before accepting CBI's closure report, it was duty-bound to issue notice to the complainant.

It had directed the CVC to clarify its stand on CBI's closure report in which an FIR was lodged following CVC's reference against PIL and others in connection with alleged irregularities in allocation of Chhattisgarh's Fatehpur coal block.