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Both Houses of the Parliament were adjourned again till noon on Thursday with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led opposition sticking to its demand for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation. The 'Coalgate' has paralysed parliament after the CAG report said that the under-priced sales of coalfields would have cost the national exchequer as much as 33 billion dollars in lost revenues. The BJP is demanding the resignation of Dr. Singh since he headed the Coal Ministry between 2006 and 2009, when many of the sales occurred.However, Dr. Singh had rejected the CAG's observations as 'misleading' and 'flawed', and blamed the opposition parties for thwarting the efforts of his government to bring a policy of competitive bidding. Dr. Singh also ruled out any possibility of quitting the top post despite the BJP firm on its demand for his resignation over the coal blocks allocation issue. However, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered five separate cases against certain private companies, their directors and unknown public servants on September 3. The cases have been registered in connection with the allegations related to getting coal blocks allocated on the basis of misrepresentations and false claims in the applications, presentations and connivance/lack of due diligence on part of public servants. Promoters of some of these companies have allegedly sold their stakes in an irregular manner after allocation of coal blocks. Searches are being conducted on Tuesday at 30 locations in 11 cities including Nagpur, Kolkata, Bhilai, Yavatmal, Raipur, Dhanbad, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi (NCR), among others. A preliminary enquiry to examine the irregularities, if any, in the allocation of coal blocks during the period 2006-09 was registered on a reference from CVC, in June this year.

Parliament adjourned over coalgate