157 applications of private firms missing: Centre

The ministry told the court that an inter-ministerial committee had been set up to examine non-availability of any file.

Days after it conceded to the Oppositions demand for an intervention by the Prime Minister over missing files in coal blocks allocation case,the Centre Tuesday admitted before the Supreme Court that all 157 applications by private companies,which had not been allocated coal blocks,were missing.

In its affidavit to the court,the Coal Ministry has stated that out of 236 documents,189 documents,including 157 applications by private companies,had not been made available to the CBI,which is probing the case under courts supervision.

Besides 157 rejected applications,seven files,19 other applications and 17 more documents were yet to be handed over to the CBI,which had sent a consolidated list of documents to the ministry for making them available to it for proper investigation.

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The ministry told the court that an inter-ministerial committee had been set up to examine non-availability of any file or document and to suggest action for locating them within a month. It expressed a possibility of availability of missing documents in the records of other ministries or government departments.

Perusal of 157 applications,made prior to June 2004,would be significant for the court to analyse the reasons for rejection of these companies applications while allowing those of others,which succeeded in getting allocations.

In a previous hearing,a Bench led by Justice R M Lodha had observed that the allotments,prima facie,seemed to be arbitrary.

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