By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, March 23: The High Court of Meghalaya has directed the state to keep a watch on the activities of Jaimaa Coal Pvt. Ltd, Guwahati, who is one of the respondents in the case of Gasuapara coal ‘scam’.
The High Court ruled that no coal sought to be transported by Jaimaa Coal (respondent No. 14) or exported or purchased should be allowed to be dealt with except with the previous leave of this Court.
During the hearing of the PIL on Wednesday, the HC said that the game appears to be up and the counsel appearing for Jaimaa Coal has been shamelessly dodging the court.
“There is no explanation as to how the 14th respondent acquired in excess of 52,000 MT of coal for which it sought permission in April, 2022, to export to Bangladesh. The matter has been adjourned on one pretext or the other and the ludicrous excuse put up today is that papers have been sought from Customs authorities to substantiate the source of coal,” the High Court said.
According to the court, it is completely unacceptable that a commercial entity would submit documents with a statutory authority, but not retain copies thereof.
The court also directed that Jaimaa Coal should be represented with all documents to substantiate the source of obtaining coal, not only of the 52,000 MT, but of an additional amount of approximately 1,25,000 MT that the Guwahati-based firm seems to have been in possession of, as will be evident from the papers relied upon by the petitioner.
The matter is scheduled to appear in a week.
During the hearing, the legal counsel of the petitioner also said that the amount of scam is Rs 131 crore, which was generated by this alleged fake transaction.
