Coalgate: ex-coal secretary Gupta quits CCI post ahead of grilling
13 Jun 2013
Member of the Competition Commission of India H C Gupta, the former coal secretary who is set to be questioned by Central Bureau of Investigation over the coal block allocation scam, has submitted his resignation to the government.
The resignation came soon after the corporate affairs ministry on Wednesday gave its assent to the CBI to question Gupta.
"Gupta submitted his resignation yesterday (Wednesday) and it will be processed by the government," a source told PTI today.
Gupta was the coal secretary between 2006 and 2009, the period which is covered by the CBI investigation into alleged irregularities in allocation of coal blocks.
Gupta has been a member of fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) since 2009 and his tenure was to end to early next year.
The corporate affairs ministry, the administrative ministry for the CCI, had earlier refused to grant permission to CBI to question Gupta.
During the period 2006-09, 68 coal blocks were allotted to 151 companies, and files of some of them have since gone missing.
The CBI has registered 12 first information reports related to alleged irregularities in the allotment coal blocks in this period.
