CBI begins probe against Naveen Jindal's JSPL for mining in Saranda forests

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation has begun a probe into how Congress leader Naveen Jindal’s company got permission from the environment ministry under Jayanti Natarajan in 2013 to mine iron ore in Asia’s largest sal forest in the Naxal-affected Saranda area of Jharkhand.
Natarajan’s predecessor in the environment ministry, Jairam Ramesh, was opposed to opening up the Saranda forests for mining by private companies and had written to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Natarajan in 2013 opposing the move. The CBI has not named any person as a suspect in the Preliminary Enquiry, which was registered on Friday.

“The PE has been registered against unknown government officials of the environment ministry and unknown officials of Jindal Steel & Power for irregularities in granting approval and permission for diversion of forest land for mining in Saranda forests between 2007 and 2013,” a CBI official spokesperson said on Friday. A senior CBI official said it may question “top ministry officials” on the matter.

Responding to an ET query a JSPL spokesperson said “we have only come to know of the preliminary enquiry through media reports. JSPL reiterates that we have always co-operated with the investigative agencies and will respond when we receive these queries from the investigative authorities.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had targeted Natarajan during the election campaign, alleging there was a “Jayanti tax” levied in the environment ministry for clearances. Natarajan was unavailable for comment on the CBI’s move.

Sources told ET the JSPL project in the Saranda forests was taken up for discussion in the Cabinet Committee on Investments and cleared in May 2013. Natarajan, the sources said, had placed the objections raised by then rural development minister Ramesh in a letter to her, and her recommendations on the project before the CCI, which was chaired by then Prime Minister Singh.

The project was cleared by the CCI, the sources maintained. CBI sources said the Forest Advisory Committee in 2011 had considered JSPL’s mining project but noted that the forest of Saranda is part of the core area of the Singhbhum reserve, one of the finest habitats for elephants. However, in January 2013, the FAC granted JSPL mining permission, citing the environment ministry’s 2011 decision to allow forest diversion for iron ore mines for state-owned SAIL in the same area.

Natarajan’s ministry approved the FAC’s decision in May last year. Saranda is a sensitive area, which was under the Maoists for a decade before paramilitary forces seized control in 2011. Ramesh told the then PM and Natarajan that mining in the area could derail his Saranda Development Plan, which was started in 2012 to counter the influence of the Naxals.

In his letter to the PM, Ramesh said the step to allow private miners in Saranda was retrograde and called for a larger and more sensitive political view on the issue. The CBI has already filed two cases against JSPL in the coal scam and has named chairman Naveen Jindal as an accused in one of them.