New Delhi, Jun 2 (IANS): The CBI on Friday ruled out scrutinising the role of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the coal blocks controversy.

However, the agency registered a preliminary enquiry (PE)  into the alleged irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks to private companies between 2006 and 2009.

“The CBI has registered a PE in this issue. The agency will inquire into the allegations of irregularities in the utilisation of coal blocks,” a senior official of the central probe agency told Deccan Herald.

The agency, however, clarified that “it will not look into the policy matters related to the allocation of coal blocks” as the officer asserted that probe would primarily focus on the alleged irregularities in utilisation of coal blocks by the allottee companies.

The CBI registers a PE to start initial probe before registering a regular case (RC). A preliminary enquiry is converted into RC if agency gets sufficient material to show that prima facie there has been commission of a cognisable offence.

Country’s premier investigating agency registered the PE a day after the Central Vigilance Commission forwarded to the CBI a complaint of BJP leaders Prakash Javadekar and Hansraj Ahir in which they had alleged that first-come-first-serve basis was adopted by the government to benefit some private companies. "We are happy that the CVC took cognisance of our complaint,” Javadekar said, while responding to the developments in the matter.

In their complaint, the BJP leaders had said that the prime minister was in charge of the Coal Ministry when most allocations were made.

The complaint also alleged that there was a delay of nearly two years in auctioning process claiming that the ministry had done so to benefit some private players.
The complaint also alleged that the allottee companies did not start production themselves, but outsourced the operation to third parties at a premium and pocketed the benefit.

In his complaint, Ahir had alleged that 1,700 crore metric tonne of coal worth Rs 51 lakh crore was given almost free to private companies.

Ahir wrote first to CAG in 2010 demanding that it should conduct a "special audit" of the coal mining cases.

"We wrote again in March this year and the CVC replied to us on May 17, 2012. We will now wait for the CBI to come out with its inquiry report," Javadekar said.

Meanwhile, the prime minister is understood to have briefed the Congress Core Group comprising party chief Sonia Gandhi and other senior leaders on the CBI beginning a PE in the matter.

Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal has refuted the allegation of scam and defended the mechanism adopted by the government in allotting coal mining blocks.

"There is no scam in the allocation of coal blocks. The same principles are being followed in allotting coal blocks during the last 15 years for providing subsidised power to the people," Jaiswal told reporters here.