When the BJP upped the ante against him over the Government auditor’s report in the coal scam, the former Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, made a spirited defence of his actions in both the houses of Parliament.
In a speech made on August 27, 2012, in Parliament, Singh said the Comptroller & Auditor General of India’s argument that the Government’s action benefitted the private players by ₹1.86 crore was disputable. Taking full responsibility for decisions of the Coal Ministry, of which he was holding charge, he said any allegations of impropriety were without basis and unsupported by the facts.
He said the allocation of coal blocks to private companies for captive use was allowed after amending the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973. “This was done with the objective of attracting private investments in specified end uses. As the economy grew in size, the demand for coal also grew and it became evident that Coal India Ltd alone would not be able to meet the growing demand,” he had said. He argued that since 1993, allocation of captive coal blocks was being done on the basis of recommendations made by an inter-Ministerial Screening Committee, which also had representatives of State governments.
“In the wake of rapidly growing demand for coal and captive coal blocks, it was the UPA I Government which, for the first time, conceived the idea of making allocations through the competitive bidding route in June 2004,” Singh had said. He said the policy of allocation of coal blocks to private parties, which the CAG has criticised, was not a new policy introduced by the UPA. He said there were no allegations of impropriety in the functioning of the screening committee.
He said major coal and lignite-bearing States such as West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Rajasthan that were ruled by Opposition parties, were strongly opposed to switching over to competitive bidding as they felt that it would increase the cost of coal, adversely impact value addition and development of industries in their areas and would dilute their prerogative in the selection of lessees.