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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | UPA minister's kin linked to coal block allocation deal

UPA minister's kin linked to coal block allocation deal

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published Published on Sep 7, 2012   modified Modified on Sep 7, 2012
-The Times of India

CHENNAI: The DMK has once again landed the UPA government in a spot as the focus now shifts to the family of Union minister of state for information and broadcasting S Jagathrakshakan for their involvement in a company that was awarded a coal block in 2007 despite the fact that it had no track record in the sector.

The Jagathrakshakan-owned J R Power Gen Pvt Ltd was barely a five-day-old company when it signed an MoU with the state-owned Puducherry Industrial Promotion Development and Investment Corporation (PIPDIC) to stake claim for a captive coal block.

Coincidentally, this round of allotments were made to PSUs which had to specify end use for the coal. While J R Power had no interests in any core sector at this stage, PIPDIC is a state agency for facilitating investments in the region. Neither could have directly utilized the coal block.

According to documents available with TOI, J R Power, a company in which Jagathrakshakan and his family members were directors, entered into the MoU with PIPDIC on January 17, 2007 to share coal. On July 25, 2007, PIPDIC and Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC) were allocated a coal block in Naini in Orissa. As per the MoU, J R Power also enjoyed a stake for end use of this allotment.

However, months after the allocation of the coal block, J R Power, which had no expertise in thermal power, iron and steel, or cement, the key sectors for consumption of coal, sold 51% of its stake to a Hyderabad-based company, K S K Energy Ventures Ltd, an established player with interests in the energy sector. The rights for the use of the coal block thus passed to K S K.

Admitting to getting a coal block, Jagathrakshakan told TOI, "It is true that we got a coal allocation but it was a sub-contract with Puducherry government and then we gave it away to KSK company. Now, we have got nothing to do with the allocation but if the government wants to take back the allocation it can do so."

However, questions are now being raised as to how J R Power Gen managed to enter into an MoU with a state agency with rights to a coal block although it had no expertise in allied sectors. Jagathrakshakan was not a minister or MP in the DMK when the deal was struck. Later, he resigned as director of the company on April 4, 2009, to contest in the Lok Sabha elections, but his family members remain on the board of the company. "The coal block was allocated to PIPDIC without any end use. The company did not specify any power, iron or cement industry project when it got the coal block. Subsequently, it entered into an agreement with another company again without any experience in power projects. Thus the coal, a precious source, has been allocated without application of mind to PIPDIC allegedly under some influence," said M R Venkatesh, a chartered accountant and activist.

The DMK sought to distance itself from the controversy saying Jagathrakshakan was not a member of the party at that point. Spokesperson T K S Elangovan said, "Jagathrakshakan was not a minister or an MP during that period and as a businessman he had the liberty to enter into an agreement purely on business terms." There is no allegation of misuse of the coal allocation, he said. Sources in the industry say J R Power now plans to offload its remaining stake of 49%. The fact that it still has a stake in the coal block is expected to enhance its value. Meanwhile, PIPDIC is under fire from the coal ministry, which had issued a notice to the corporation in May 2012, asking why its allocation should not be cancelled for not mining the coal.

Incidentally, Jagathrakshakan, DMK's richest MP by value of assets disclosed, was caught in a controversy when a medical college in Tamil Nadu owned by his family sold seats for a consideration. The officials of the college were caught on camera and a CBI enquiry is currently on. 

The Times of India, 7 September, 2012, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/UPA-ministers-kin-linked-to-coal-block-allocation-deal/articleshow/16288353.cms


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