NEW DELHI: The coal ministry headed by PM Manmohan Singh and trade unions of Coal India Limited (CIL) look headed for a showdown over the alleged mismatch and delay in depositing the money collected by the public sector undertaking in the name of PM's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) and for other similar funds.
To make matters worse, the Central Information Commission (
CIC), CIL chairman P Bhattacharya and the PMO are also set to join the controversy in which all sides have been blaming one another without anyone ready to bear the brunt.
On behalf of the CIL trade unions, CPM-affiliated CITU's president M K Pandhe is spearheading the battle, who has accused the PMO of not doing "sufficient enquiries" before making the information on "diversion" of relief fund public.
To add to the mess, the coal ministry on Wednesday held that although no case of misuse of funds was made out, "the irregularities that have occurred merit action". "Coal ministry has directed the CIL chairman to undertake a detailed inquiry in the matter, identify individual responsibility for lapses and initiate appropriate action against the guilty urgently," an official release said, adding that CIL has also been asked to ensure that in future, monies collected for PMNRF are deposited without delay.
The
CIC had on Monday sought remedial action from PMO over the "misappropriation" of money contributed to PMNRF, basing its advisory on the findings of a probe into the matter by PMO itself which indicated that out of a total of Rs 40.65 crore collected through contributions from CIL employees, the relief fund received only Rs 30 crore. The finding was strongly challenged by the CIL chairman.
These monies were collected for providing relief to soldiers' families affected by the Kargil war, besides those hit by tsunami, Gujarat earthquake, Orissa cyclone, Kashmir earthquake and floods in different parts of the country.