2. What is Coal Allocation Scam ?
Coal allocation scam is a major political scandal
concerning the Indian government's allocation of the
nation's coal deposits to public sector enterprise and
private companies.
Around 194 coal blocks were allocated in an
inefficient manner to the companies.
5. Why is Coal Scam also known as
‘Coalgate’?
It takes analogy from Watergate Scandal from the US.
Since the fame of that scandal, the -gate suffix has
assumed the connotation of a political scandal or political
scam for easy understanding. As the coal scam was a
political one, it's called the Coalgate.
6. Timeline - Series of Events
• July 14, 1992 - Screening committee was set-
up by the Coal ministry.
7. • March, 2012 – A draft report by Comptroller and
Auditor General of India accuses Government of
inefficient allocation of coal blocks between
2004-2009
8. • April-May 2012 – Allegations against several
politicians and industrialists. These include
Dr. Manmohan Singh,Naveen Jindal,Premchand
Gupta, Ajay Sancheti, S. Jagathrakshakan.
9. • May 31, 2012 – CVC directs a CBI enquiry based
on a complaint of two BJP MPs Prakash
Javadekar and Hansraj Ahir.
10. • June 2012 - Coal ministry forms an inter-ministerial
panel to review the process of allocation of blocks.
11. • August 25, 2012 - CAG’s final report, tabled in
Parliament.
12. • September 2012 - The Supreme Court begins
monitoring the CBI probe into the coal field
allocations.
13. • March 2013 - The Supreme Court asks CBI
director Ranjit Sinha not to share details of its
investigation with the government.
14. • April 23, 2013 - Standing Committee on Coal and
Steel, in a report tabled in Parliament, says coal
blocks distributed between 1993-2008 done in
unauthorized manner.
15. • June 11, 2013 - CBI registers first information
report (FIR) against Naveen Jindal and Dasari
Narayana Rao.
16. • 16 October 2013 - CBI files an FIR against
industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and former
coal secretary P.C. Parakh
17. • September 24, 2014 - Supreme court passed the
judgement, terming all coal allocations between
1993 and 2010 illegal.The Lok Sabha passed a
bill which provided for fresh auction of 204 coal
blocks de-allocated by the Supreme Court.