A Delhi court on Tuesday sentenced a former official of the Union Ministry of Steel to three years’ rigorous imprisonment in a case related to the alleged irregularities in allocation of coal block. The court also imposed a fine of ₹ 5 lakh on the convict. (Representative Image)

Special judge Arun Bharadwaj also imposed a fine of ₹5 lakh on former executive secretary of Joint Plant Commission of the steel ministry, G K Basak, along with the jail term.

According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), this is the 14th conviction in the coal allocation scam.

On August 18, the court convicted Basak under section 13(2) read with section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act) and had discharged him under section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The court convicted Basak observing that he gave a false report after inspecting the premises through his personal visit and based on spot verification. Thus, the court added that, “the report was false, and it was in his knowledge that he is giving a false report”.

It was the case of the CBI that M/s Prakash Industries Ltd. had in 2007 submitted its application for allocation of Vijay Central Coal Block.

The company had claimed in the application that its capacity to produce sponge iron was 8 lakh tonnes per annum and was proposed to be increased to 2 million tonnes per annum but complaints were received by the Ministry of Coal and Ministry of Steel regarding misrepresentations being made.

After receiving complaints Basak was directed, by the Ministry of Steel, to personally visit the place to assess the production capacity through spot verification. Basak prepared and submitted a verification report

Later, complaints were again received by the Ministry of Steel and Ministry of Coal, after which an inter-ministerial committee was set up which conducted spot verification and found that M/s Prakash Limited had furnished false information and Basak had given a false verification report.

The court, while convicting Basak, on August 18, also discharged one other accused Soumen Chatterjee, who had accompanied Basak for spot verification, noting that the prosecution was not able to prove the charges against him.

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