Delhi court frames corruption charges against IAS officer, ex-MLA in coal block case

A special court in Delhi recently framed charges against two public officials and discharged the rest of the accused in a case pertaining to allocation of a coal block in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra [CBI v. Sunil HiTech Engineers Limited]. .Special judge Arun Bhardwaj framed corruption charges against two public officials - IAS officer DG Philip and former Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Avinash Warjukar. While Philip had held the post of Managing Director of Maharashtra State Mining Corporation Ltd (MSMCL), Warjukar was its Chairman.Those who were discharged from the case included beneficiary company Sunil HiTech Engineers Limited and its Director Sunil Ratnakar Gutte and aXYKno Capital Services and its Director R Ramakrishnan, who were financial consultants to MSMCL..The coal block had been allocated to MSMCL, a public sector undertaking under Maharashtra government. It had entered into a joint venture with a private company for operating the coal block and extracting coal from it. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alleged that the process of selecting the joint venture partner was vitiated by irregularities. A tender had been floated for the selection of a joint venture partner and several entities that were not eligible under various clauses were illegally made eligible. Subsequently, the selected joint venture partner indirectly sold or transferred a majority stake in the joint venture to another investor, contrary to the terms of the bid documents and joint venture agreement. .The CBI further alleged irregularities in the selection of the financial consultant advising MSMCL on the transaction.On May 25, the court framed corruption charges against the two public servants under Section 13(1)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act. While there were prima facie grounds to frame charges against the beneficiary company, Sunil HiTech Engineers, it was discharged under Section 32A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 since it had undergone liquidation. Gutte was discharged after it was found that he had no personal involvement in the transaction. The order, however, noted that in case any evidence was to come up, other directors of Sunil HiTech Engineers may be summoned. It underlined that aXYKno Capital Services had advised MSMCL against relaxing conditions for its joint venture partner, and therefore, could not have been in conspiracy with the beneficiary.The court will formally frame charges against Philip and Warjukar on July 7. .Advocates Honey Satpal, Vijay Kumar Aggarwal, Vikram Hegde, Shri Singh, Rajeev Singh, Amit Band and Pankaj Kapoor appeared for the accused.Advocate Sanjay Kumar represented the CBI..[Read Order]