Even as CAG readies more ammunition to fight criticism from the prime minister down & BJP continues to stall Parliament, govt stands firm in its resolve to rebuff charges of wrongdoing in alloc

An inter-ministerial panel under the coal ministry will decide the fate of allocation of 17 captive coal blocks allotted to big corporate houses, next week. This is on the back of severe delays in their development. This comes close on the heels of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigating the alleged corruption in allocation of blocks.

The coal ministry had recently issued showcause notices to the companies, which own the mining rights of the 17 blocks allocated between 2006 and 2009. Through the notices, the ministry had threatened the companies of cancelling their allotments and sought justifications for the delay.

The Central Bureau of Investigation is finalising a report on its probe into the allocation of coal blocks and is understood to have unearthed discrepancies in the allocations, with the involvement of officials of State governments at various levels.

The CBI is preparing the ground for lodging of a first information report (FIR), which could well become the basis for cancellation of allocations. Sources in the government said the CBI scrutinised around 1,400 applications and found that a number of private players had either misrepresented facts to get allotment or were recommended by the respective State governments.

Even as the controversy over the Comptroller and Auditor-General’s (CAG) report on coal blocks allocation that reportedly caused a loss of Rs. 1.86 lakh crore to the national exchequer rages, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has said coal allocations and mining, in future, should be done through the public sector.

In an article in party organ People’s Democracy , party general secretary Prakash Karat has demanded a high-level investigation to fix the responsibility for the irregularities and corruption in the coal block policy.

NEW DELHI: The CAG has slammed the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for delay in finalising safety standards for mobiles phones. "The fact remains that standards on important aspects i.e.

The proposal was recieved in 2010 but even the draft standard had not been finalised as of June, 2012

The CAG has slammed the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for delay in finalising safety standards for mobiles phones. "The fact remains that standards on important aspects like mobile handsets, radiation from mobile phones, etc. had not been formulated so far," the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said in the report tabled in Parliament today.

Most Blocks Were Allocated Between 2005 & 2009

The National Green Tribunal's decision to suspend the environmental clearance given to Posco vindicates the project's critics.

The CAG blames the Orissa government's failure to provide safe potable water for the outbreak of diseases in the State.