New Delhi: Eight years after starting a preliminary inquiry, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last month registered a case of corruption against Hindalco Industries Ltd, a subsidiary of the Aditya Birla Group, and a former director of the environment ministry.
The case pertains to an alleged violation of environmental clearances issued to Hindalco for mining coal in Odisha between 2000 and 2013, with the company mining coal more than the permitted capacity.
The CBI has also charged Dr T. Chandini, then a director in the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), for allegedly misusing her position to provide undue benefits to Hindalco, despite a prohibition imposed by the ministry in critically polluted areas at the time. The CBI alleged that Chandini, instead of returning the project to Hindalco, misused her official position to process the company’s request to double its coal production.
The first information report (FIR) registered on 19 July by the CBI said that she “ensured that the environment clearance to Hindalco was granted in haste considering that the company was already in violation of earlier environmental clearances, as it was already mining coal in excess”.
When asked for a comment, a Hindalco spokesperson told ThePrint: “This is an old matter pertaining to 2014-2015. 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.”
What is the case?
On 8 February 2016, the CBI initiated a preliminary inquiry against unknown officials of the MoEF and others regarding the alleged payment of “massive bribe amounts by ABMCPL (Aditya Birla Management Corporation Pvt Ltd) to unknown officials of Ministry of Environment and Forest during 2011 to 2013 for grant of Environmental clearance to its projects”.
According to the CBI, its inquiry revealed that during this time, the MoEF had granted prior environmental clearances for new projects as well as for the expansion and modernisation of existing projects.
Usually, projects that require clearances are appraised by the Expert Appraisal Committee which consists of professionals and experts from different disciplines. Clearances are granted or rejected based on the recommendation of this committee.
According to the CBI, environmental clearance was given to Hindalco on 5 March 2001 for mining 0.4 MTPA (million tonnes per annum) of coal from Talabira-I coal mines. Subsequently, on 14 January 2009, MoEF granted a clearance to Hindalco to expand the capacity of its Talabira-I coal mines project from 0.4 MTPA to 1.5 MTPA.
On 27 February 2009, Hindalco again applied for a prior clearance from MoEF for the expansion of existing production capacity (doubling it) at Talabira coal mines from 1.5 MTPA to 3 MTPA.
This proposal was taken up for consideration by the committee twice and Chandini was communicating with Hindalco on the issues and observations raised by the clearance committee in its meetings.
According to the CBI, the MoEF had issued a circular which mandated that when considering a proposal for clearance for an expansion project, it would take the compliance status of the conditions stipulated in the earlier clearances into consideration. In this regard, CBI alleged, Hindalco was found to have violated the clearances granted to it in 2001 and 2009, producing coal in quantities in excess of what it had received the clearances for.
“This fact became known during the process of consideration by the committee. During 2004-05 and 2007-08, Hindalco produced and mined 3.045 MTPA excess coal,” the FIR said.
The CBI further alleged that the MoEF in 2010 imposed temporary restrictions on the consideration of developmental projects for grant of environmental clearances since 43 industrial clusters, whose aggregated CEPU scores (Comprehensive Environment Pollution Index scores) were above 70, were being critically polluted.
‘Located in highly polluted areas’
The inquiry also revealed that the Talabira-I open-cast mine for which Hindalco had applied for prior clearance was located in the Ib Valley in Jharsuguda — an industrial mining area in Odisha that had been classified as critically polluted.
Under its prohibition, MoEF issued administrative directions instructing the return of all projects located in critically polluted areas that were in the pipeline, or on which a final decision had not yet been taken. In the Hindalco case, however, the guidelines were not followed, the CBI said.
“Dr T. Chandini was obligated to return the proposal of Hindalco but she dishonestly and fraudulently did not adhere to the instructions of the MoEF and instead by misusing her official position communicated to Hindalco that their proposal for grant of clearance would be considered in the next meeting,” the FIR said.
The proposal of Hindalco continued to be considered by the Expert Appraisal Committee, the CBI said.
“Despite the prohibition imposed on the consideration of projects for grant of Environment clearances, Chandini continued with the process of consideration of Hindalco’s application and sent several letters notifying them about the agenda, dates of committee meetings and issued instructions in connection with the procession,” the FIR said.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
Also read: India’s Aditya Birla Capital to raise up to $213 million through issue of shares