CBI probing Hindalco & MoEF ex-Director over green nod to Talabira Project in 2014-15
CBI) is probing Hindalco Industries Ltd (HIL) and a former director of the ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) in a corruption case.
According to the first information report (FIR), CBI has booked the company, Dr T Chandini, the then director of MoEF, and unknown persons under certain sections of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act and Section 120 (B) pertaining to criminal conspiracy of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
«This is an old matter pertaining to 2014-15. These mines were de-allocated as part of the government's de-allocation process. This is a matter of public record where more than 100 mines were de-allocated,» a Hindalco spokesperson told ET.
According to the FIR, the case was registered in pursuant of a preliminary enquiry (PE) conducted by the agency in 2016 that allegedly disclosed commission of a cognisable offence. The period under investigation is between 2000 and 2013.
The CBI alleged that its PE found that during 2004-05 to 2007-08 and 2008-09, HIL produced/ mined 3.045 mtpa excess coal in violations of the MoEF norms. In 2010, MoEF classified the industrial and mining area of Ib Valley (Orissa) and Jharsuguda (Orissa) as critically polluted. The probe found that Talabira-I Open Cast Mine for which HLI had applied for prior environmental clearance from the MoEF was located in a critically polluted area of Jharsuguda, of 2 which Ib Valley is a part.
The PE found that Dr Chandini, who was allegedly required to return the proposal of HIL, instead allegedly acted fraudulently and
