The Delhi High Court on Friday served a notice to the coal ministry,asking it to respond to a PIL seeking the removal of Dinesh Chandra Garg,CMD of Western Coalfields Ltd,on the ground that his tenure has illegally been extended six times without requisite approvals from the central vigilance commission. A bench of justices S Ravindra Bhat and Najmi Waziri also issued notices to the CVC,Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Garg on the petition filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) and fixed the matter for further hearing on September 26. The bench also asked the ministry to be ready with the complete records of all the tenure extensions granted to Garg on that day. During brief arguments before the court on Friday,senior advocate Shanti Bhushan,who appeared for the CPIL,submitted that the extension of Gargs tenure was done multiple times on an ad-hoc basis by the ministry of coal without vigilance clearance which is an indispensable requirement for extension of tenure of officers. The petition also claims that Garg and other senior officers had shown undue favour to a construction company by awarding a contract for construction of the Motaghat Nalla at the Chandrapur mines,even after it was found that the bank guarantees given by the company was fake.
