P C Parakh self-publishes book that looks at coal judgments and CBI in the 'Coalgate' case
After being unable to find publishers, who probably dreaded inviting contempt of court, P C Parakh the former coal secretary has finally self published his book on 'Coalgate' case.
- May 30, 2017,
- Updated May 30, 2017 8:14 PM IST
After being unable to find publishers, who probably dreaded inviting contempt of court, P C Parakh the former coal secretary has finally self published his book on 'Coalgate' case. Titled, "The Coal Conundrum - Executive Failure And Judicial Arrogance," it is divided into three sections. The first part deals with the country's coal policy and "how the executive inertia, compromised India's energy security and damaged the economy; the second part looks at the Supreme Court's decisions on 'Coalgate' and the flaws in the court order.
He writes: "With due respect to the highest court of the country, I wish to submit that the court has not fully appreciated the rationale of various decisions and has drawn conclusions on scanty information and lack of proper appreciation of the highly complex issues to coal mining." And the third section is on the Central Bureau of Investigation and CBI court.
At the book launch in Hyderabad on Saturday, Parakh said: "When I wrote my first book, I wrote in that the CBI is incapable of finding the truth and it can fix and unfix people. In 'Coalgate' the two officers who have been charged are me and former coal secretary S C Gupta. Nobody questions his or my credibility."
Giving the background and on what he thinks was really the key issue to focus on, he said, "In March 2004, I joined the ministry and in June, I made the proposal that we must put the coal blocks to open auction. That proposal was approved by the Prime Minister in May 2004 but the proposal could not be carried through for 10 years. Now, CBI is not able to find as to why there was this abnormal amount of delay in the process, which could have brought about transparency and who was responsible (for the delay) and what kind of gain they got out of it? That is the crux of the material and the CBI should have investigated it. But instead of looking into that, they have been trying to fix people who have done nothing."
"This," he says, "is the unfortunate thing that the premier investigating agency of the country is just not in a position to investigate in a manner in which a good investigating agency should investigate."
About the book, he says, what is there in the book is all facts and today, "I cannot forecast as to how the court will look at it" but then, I decided that I must publish this book because my view is that after so many years of experience, we are not able to tell the truth then what kind of example are we setting for our future generation."
Complimenting Parakh for writing the book, Sanjaya Baru, writer and the former media advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said, "It is extremely important for people who have been in positions of power in a democracy to inform public opinion. It is also the responsibility of people in public life to keep the media. How else does the media educate itself. There is no point criticizing the media when correct facts are not presented to the media. Putting the facts across in the public domain through published work is extremely important."
Y Venugopal Reddy calls the book "a masterpiece that highlights dangers of economic reforms without reforming judiciary, Parliamentary and executive wings."
After being unable to find publishers, who probably dreaded inviting contempt of court, P C Parakh the former coal secretary has finally self published his book on 'Coalgate' case. Titled, "The Coal Conundrum - Executive Failure And Judicial Arrogance," it is divided into three sections. The first part deals with the country's coal policy and "how the executive inertia, compromised India's energy security and damaged the economy; the second part looks at the Supreme Court's decisions on 'Coalgate' and the flaws in the court order.
He writes: "With due respect to the highest court of the country, I wish to submit that the court has not fully appreciated the rationale of various decisions and has drawn conclusions on scanty information and lack of proper appreciation of the highly complex issues to coal mining." And the third section is on the Central Bureau of Investigation and CBI court.
At the book launch in Hyderabad on Saturday, Parakh said: "When I wrote my first book, I wrote in that the CBI is incapable of finding the truth and it can fix and unfix people. In 'Coalgate' the two officers who have been charged are me and former coal secretary S C Gupta. Nobody questions his or my credibility."
Giving the background and on what he thinks was really the key issue to focus on, he said, "In March 2004, I joined the ministry and in June, I made the proposal that we must put the coal blocks to open auction. That proposal was approved by the Prime Minister in May 2004 but the proposal could not be carried through for 10 years. Now, CBI is not able to find as to why there was this abnormal amount of delay in the process, which could have brought about transparency and who was responsible (for the delay) and what kind of gain they got out of it? That is the crux of the material and the CBI should have investigated it. But instead of looking into that, they have been trying to fix people who have done nothing."
"This," he says, "is the unfortunate thing that the premier investigating agency of the country is just not in a position to investigate in a manner in which a good investigating agency should investigate."
About the book, he says, what is there in the book is all facts and today, "I cannot forecast as to how the court will look at it" but then, I decided that I must publish this book because my view is that after so many years of experience, we are not able to tell the truth then what kind of example are we setting for our future generation."
Complimenting Parakh for writing the book, Sanjaya Baru, writer and the former media advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said, "It is extremely important for people who have been in positions of power in a democracy to inform public opinion. It is also the responsibility of people in public life to keep the media. How else does the media educate itself. There is no point criticizing the media when correct facts are not presented to the media. Putting the facts across in the public domain through published work is extremely important."
Y Venugopal Reddy calls the book "a masterpiece that highlights dangers of economic reforms without reforming judiciary, Parliamentary and executive wings."