Coalgate: CBI probing Arjun Munda's mine allotments

Forty-four memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with private mining companies in just four years (2003-2006)!

Jharkhand took rapid steps to boost industrial growth during the BJP’s Arjun Munda regime. He is now under the scanner of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for alleged irregularities committed in this rush to sign 44 MoUs.

In the past, Arjun Munda has always been vocal about mining companies making super profits and not sharing the benefits with the people who live on the land being mined. But official records of the Jharkhand government show that after 30 October 2002, a huge amount of forest land - 5,693 hectares - were diverted to mining and most of it was done during Arjun Munda’s regime (2005-2006).

[caption id=“attachment_437051” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda in a file photograph. AFP[/caption]

Munda became Chief Minister of Jharkhand on 18 March 2003 and continued to hold office till 14 September 2006. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed with the Jharkhand High Court in 2009 had sought a CBI inquiry against Munda on the ground that he had amassed wealth disproportionate to his income.

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Though the petition could not succeed in instituting a CBI inquiry at that time, it has provided material for the CBI to look into Munda’s role in the allotment of coal mines. Every sanction to the steel or power industries needed a corresponding allotment from the coal industry.

In one such MoU signed with the Kolkata-based CESC Ltd, which also figures in the Comptroller and Auditor General’s list of 57 private companies benefited by the coal blocks allocation scam, Arjun Munda had agreed that “the government of Jharkhand shall assist in selecting coal blocks within the state and agree to recommend to the government of India for allocation of suitable coal blocks in favour of CESC Ltd for captive coal mining.''

CESC was setting up a 1,000 mw power plant at Dumka in Jharkhand. The MoU was signed in 2005 but the power plant is yet to see the light of day. However, the agreement to recommend the allocation of coal blocks was already made.

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In all the 44 MoUs, the Munda government had agreed to provide coal blocks wherever the industry required it. The CAG report reveals that 27 out of 57 coal blocks were allotted to private companies in Jharkhand alone.

The PIL had alleged that the “maximum number of recommendations for grant of lease of iron ore mines and coal mines had been made in favour of false and non-serious companies.’’ Though Arjun Munda signed the maximum number of MoUs, barring one or two, none of the projects has started to date, the petition alleged.

In the rush to sign MoUs, the petition alleged that Munda had amassed wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income. The petition alleged that Munda and his wife had stakes in the KYS group of companies, which is located in Jamshedpur and whose turnover is in crores of rupees.

The petition attached a document obtained through RTI, which reveals that Arjun Munda’s wife Meera Munda has a 40 percent stake in one Birsa Munda Transport. That the company, in the financial years 2006-07 and 2007-08, had paid Rs 2.30 crore only as service tax.

The petition also annexed Munda’s affidavits submitted during the 2004 and 2009 elections, in which he had not declared his wife’s assets in BM Transport Company. The 2004 affidavit showed that Meera Munda had total cash and bank deposits of Rs 3,40,595 and in 2009 the affidavit declared that Meera owned a total wealth of Rs 78,11,476 - a 20-fold increase.

Interestingly, the RTI information obtained in September 2008 also reveals that BM Transport is a contract transporter of Tata Motors Ltd, Jamshedpur. It is engaged in the transportation of chassis of Tata Motors.

The Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Ranchi, in his counter-affidavit dated 16 May 2010, stated that “the allegation of acquisition of disproportionate assets by the Respondent No 10 (Arjun Munda) has been noted by the answering respondent (the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Ranchi) and he is taking necessary action in the case following the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961, and as per the established procedure.''

Munda, in his counter-affidavit, did not deny his wife had a 40 percent stake in BM Transport. In case of MoUs, he said, the secretary of the department had signed these MoUs and he (Arjun Munda) had no involvement in it, adding “it is wrong to say that any money was taken for signing MoU.”

On hiding his wife’s wealth in the election affidavits, Arjun Munda justified it by saying: “If such affidavit is wrong, then election petition can be filed for accepting the nomination paper but it cannot be charged as corruption. It is further stated that in the nomination paper, there are prescribed columns. Beyond that nothing can be added.''

Munda maintained that the state government made recommendations to the Centre in respect of a few mining leases and the latter had granted approval after full enquiry and scrutiny.

Munda admitted he had recommended the allotment of coal and other mines in his state, but the final decision was that of the centre.

These cases are now under CBI scrutiny.