BJP-SS govt made party to Purohit’s PIL

NAGPUR, June 14: The Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (SS-BJP) government in Maharashtra has been made party to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) initiated by BJP MP Banwarilal Purohit in the High Court Bench here. The petition presses for a CBI-probe into the alleged large-scale corruption in the coal sector, particularly Western Coalfields Limited (WCL).At a brief proceeding held this morning, the bench, comprising Justice V S Sirpurkar and Justice B H Marlapalle, granted Purohit’s request to make the state government a party to the petition, prior to adjourning the hearing of the petition for three weeks.The names of State Secretaries to the Departments of Industry, Energy, Labour, Revenue, Forest and the Joint Director of Industry have been added to the list of respondents.Earlier, Coal India Limited (CIL) of which WCL is a subsidiary, Nippon Denro Ispat Limited (NDIL) and four others were named respondents in the PIL which Purohit moved along with the co-petitioner, Vidarbha Steel Rerollers Association (VSRA).The BJP MP’s plea was necessitated by CIL’s move to hand over four captive mines (Baranj I to IV) near Chandrapur to NDIL for coal exploration for a power project. In the petition, Purohit has alleged large-scale irregularities to facilitate the move.He pointed out that the state government was well aware that it could not allow mining activities within 25 km radius of an ordnance factory, for safety and security reasons. The Union Ministry of Defence had alerted the government about this, he stated.Considering this, the BJP MP stated that it became essential to make the state departments respondents.Apart from demanding a CBI probe, the petitioner has sought the court’s directive to prevent siphoning of funds through coal price regulation account from the WCL. He has also demanded the cancellation of mining rights granted to private parties.