SC seeks status report in coal block cases

New Delhi, Sep 17 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to submit a status report on the probe and ongoing trial in the coal block allocation case.

A bench of Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose said that it will take a practical view on releasing of officers probing coal block allocation cases, to their parent departments keeping in mind that the probe does not get stalled.

The ED has sought permission to release 42 officials probing the coal block allocation cases. The ED has told the court that the deputation tenures of these 42 officials with the agencies were over.

The court listed the matter for further hearing saying that it needs to read the case files.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has estimated a loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crore to the exchequer in the controversial allocation of coal blocks by the government.