India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said that it is expanding its investigations into the coal gate scam in the country.

The investigations will now include the reasons behind the delay in the introducing the bidding for the allocations of coal blocks in the country to the companies. It was found that the union government continue to allocate coal blocks to firms through the screening committee route while the proposal suggesting the bidding route was being sent from one department to another.

The CBI has been investigating irregularities in the allocation procedure and now the investigators will also look into why the proposal for making allocations on the basis of bidding. The Central Vigilance Commission references lead the CBI to investigate only if the allocations were made in a fiar and transparent manner.

The officials from the coal ministry have said that the decision of coal block allocations is only taken after intense scrutiny and extensive deliberations. It is believed that the government incurred the huge loss while it allotted 149 blocks to several private companies during 2004-2006.

The CBI said in a reponse to a petition that, “The enquiry is also looking into the allegation regarding the delay in tabling of the Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill, 2008, before Parliament and whether the delay was by design.”