In its 14th first information report
(FIR) related to the alleged coal block allocation
scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has
named industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla of the
Aditya Birla Group and non-executive promoter
chairman of Hindalco, along with an ex-coal
secretary, P.C. Parakh. The decision has provoked
strong protests across industry, the civil service
as well as ministers and politicians.
I haven’t read the FIR. According to newspaper
reports that had access to it, a coal block called
Talabira II in Odisha was allocated to Neyveli
Lignite, a public sector enterprise, for a power
project — at the expense of others, including
Hindalco. Parakh was apparently chairman of the
committee which recommended this allocation.
Thereafter, the FIR alleges that Birla wrote to
Parakh in May 2005 and met him in July 2005 to re-emphasise
Hindalco’s claim.
This time, Parakh was persuaded by Birla, and
recommended that the block be treated as a joint
venture between Hindalco and Neyveli Lignite. In a
newspaper interview, Parakh said, “Birla made a
representation. I made a recommendation. The prime
minister [as minister of coal and mines] examined it
and took a decision.” He also said, “If CBI feels
that there is something wrong and we hatched a
conspiracy in doing so, the investigation should be
made against everybody who has been party to this…
which should include, apart from Birla and me, the
prime minister.”
I know Birla reasonably well. Prima facie, I find it
well within his rights to make a case to government
to reconsider a decision. It also seems unlikely
that there might be something wrong in what Birla
did, and that Hindalco secured the allocation though
unfair means. Birla is too important a corporate
figure in India to play such a game; and, by all
accounts of his seniors, juniors and peers, Parakh
was an honest and upright IAS officer.
This piece is not about Birla or Parakh. It is about
systematic judicial over-reach that is resulting in
the death of executive decision-making. Ever since
the Comptroller and Accountant General published its
reports on 2G spectrum and licences followed by coal
block allocations, the Supreme Court has taken upon
itself to direct ministries, regulatory bodies and
the CBI in an increasingly quasi-executive role.
While it gets kudos from the press and the urban
middle class who think of it as the only morally
upright institution in a morass of corruption and
inefficiency, it is an emphatically dangerous
incursion and extension of roles that bodes ill for
the nation. Let me suggest why.
Three critical resources that will determine India’s
pace of growth over the next three to four decades
are zamin, zamin key neechey aur aasman key upar.
Land to create infrastructure and build factories;
mining to unlock huge mineral and hydrocarbon
resources of the country; and spectrum for telecoms
as well as rights to fly passengers and cargo. All
else being equal, using these resources can raise
GDP growth by 1.5 percentage point per year.
These are very much in the domain of the State.
Therefore, getting permissions to use such resources
depends upon the decision-making remit of India’s
iron frame — the civil service. In today’s witch
hunting milieu, I’ll bet that no joint secretary,
additional secretary or secretary in any key
ministry will take any decision worth the name. It
is not worth the while. In the best of times, the
civil service was not sufficiently rewarded for
expeditiously taking the right decisions. Today, the
cadre faces the real fear of inquisition. Since
nobody gets sacked for elongating the life of a
file, that is exactly what you will see. Even the
best administrators will opt for safety over duty
for the nation. Especially the senior ones as they
approach retirement.
All this while the judiciary loves its new found
role as an executive. And the CBI, until yesterday
the pet poodle of the ruling government, acts as the
Supreme Court’s Righteous Rottweiler. Such is the
pathos of our nation.
Published: Business World, November 2013