CASE STUDY: SKS Ispat Ltd & the PMO

CASE STUDY: SKS Ispat Ltd & the PMO

In the case of Fatehpur coal block, for example, 69 applications were
received. The block was allotted to SKS Ispat Power Ltd, with no indication
of why that particular company was selected. Of particular note is the fact that SKS Ispat
Ltd was allotted the block on February 6, 2008, just a day after the current Tourism
Minister, and then Minister of State for Food Processing, Subodh Kant Sahai wrote to the
Prime Minister, asking for his 'personal intervention'. The matter was immediately forwarded
to the Coal Secretary for 'appropriate action'. The Minister is the brother of the
director of SKS Ispat Ltd. Though the Screening Committee made its recommendation on
September 13, 2007, it was not until the letter from the Minister, Mr Sahai, that the block
was allotted to SKS Ispat Ltd. The sequence of these events is highly suspect. The relevant
letters from Mr Sahai and the PMO can be found in see Annexure IV.
Of course, the case of Subodh Kant Sahai is merely one in a series that are yet to be
uncovered. Already, news reports are emerging regarding the potential criminal conduct
of Congress MP Vijay Darda in relation to the Abhijeet Group - the company currently
under investigation by the CBI. One wonders how many more skeletons will emerge.