PTI reported that 2 officials of a panel of the ministry of steel, along with a private firm and its director have been ordered by a Delhi court to be put on trial on cheating, forgery and corruption charges in a coal block allocation case.

Special CBI Judge Mr Sanjeev Jain ordered framing of charges against executive secretary Mr GK Basak and manager Mr Soumen Chatterjee of the ministry's Joint Plant Committee for allegedly giving misleading report on production capacity of Chhattisgarh based firm Prakash Industries Ltd.

Besides the 2 public servants and the firm, the court also found prima facie evidence for framing of charges against firm director Mr AK Chaturvedi of the firm.

The court said that "Prima facie there is sufficient material on record to frame charges against the accused persons. From the material on record, Mr Goutam Kumar Basak and Mr Soumen Chatterjee were directed to make physical verification of the plant and to give correct report about the production capacity and the kilns. Instead of giving the correct picture, they gave misleading picture suited to the claim of Mr AK Chaturvedi and PIL."

The court added that there are sufficient evidence to frame charges against all under section 120-B, 420, 468, 471 of the Indian Penal Code and under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

According to the CBI, on the basis of inflated production figures and bogus reports submitted by PIL, Mr Basak and Mr Chatterjee, the screening committee allotted the captive coal block at Urtan in Madhya Pradesh and at Vijay Central in Chhattisgarh to PIL.