Kolkata: A Performance Audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), covering FY 2017-18 to 2021-22, has found the Mamata Banerjee administration in West Bengal responsible for systematic institutional corruption that dispossessed vulnerable tribal families to unlawfully benefit a private company linked to the illegal coal mining scam. The audit details how state machinery facilitated an ecosystem where ancestral tribal holdings were acquired at throwaway prices to enrich private firms like Shakambhari Ispat and Power Limited (SIPL) along with coal conglomerates Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) and Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL). SIPL is currently under intense scrutiny by central probe agencies in a multi-crore illegal coal scam at the centre of which is a syndicate tied to alleged money laundering. Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee has been repeatedly questioned in connection to this case.The CAG report outlines how state land revenue authorities and district Revenue Officers bypassed statutory land ceiling limits under Section 14M of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act. Officials permitted illegal proxy purchases from impoverished tribals, ultimately granting SIPL long-term leases on the acquired land. The financial disparities highlighted in the report are stark. SIPL received a Long-Term Settlement for 52.53 acres of tribal land at a concessional rate of just 2% of market value, compared to the standard 95% charged for government land. Meanwhile, impoverished tribal owners received a meagre Rs 84,292 per acre from intermediary proxies, even though government land in the same mouza was valued at Rs 9.20 lakh per acre. This proxy arrangement allowed the company to bypass direct rehabilitation obligations to original owners, resulting in an estimated Rs 35.13 crore in financial deprivation for dispossessed families, the CAG report said. State officials withheld the mandatory 100%-statutory compensation payments, stripping families of an additional Rs 17.80 crore. By failing to enforce the 2013 Land Acquisition Act and excluding state functionaries from preparing mandatory Rehabilitation Action Plans, the administration left these households without job security, proper housing, or replacement land.Also read: Coal Mafia, Silent Authorities, Underreported Deaths: Inside the Illegal Mining in Bengal’s AsansolThis proxy arrangement allowed the company to bypass direct rehabilitation obligations to original tribal owners, while improper assessments in other districts caused tribal sellers another Rs 1.77 crore in direct financial losses. The CAG highlighted transactions in Purulia where an affluent tribal intermediary, Babu Baski, and his wife bought 29.5 acres from marginalised owners at heavily suppressed rates. Although this land accumulation violated Section 14M ceiling limits, revenue authorities failed to vest the excess land. Instead, permission was granted to transfer the entire tract to SIPL before titles were properly established. The heaviest financial blow to tribal landowners occurred during acquisitions by Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) and Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), where victims suffered an 85.68% shortfall in compensation. Across 66 test-checked cases, lands assessed at a fair market value of Rs 17.80 crore were surrendered for just Rs 2.55 crore. While state authorities claimed up to Rs 1.25 crore per acre for government-vested land, tribal owners were forced to accept as little as Rs 2.50 lakh per acre.The state concessions to SIPL directly intersect with the Rs 2,742-crore coal pilferage scam investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Central agencies established that a syndicate led by Anup Majee bought illegally mined coal using cash and fake transport invoices, delivering it directly to industrial units like SIPL. Earlier this year, ED provisionally attached assets worth Rs 100.44 crore belonging to beneficiary companies, including SIPL. Investigating agencies allege that proceeds from underpaid tribal land and illegal coal operations fuelled a political cash network. A CBI charge sheet has named 41 accused, including fugitive TMC youth leader Vinay Mishra. Both the CBI and ED have repeatedly questioned TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee and his wife Rujira Banerjee regarding their financial ties to the syndicate’s hawala transactions.The audit also reveals a staggering rejection rate of tribal claims meant to formalise their land rights. While intermediary proxies and corporate entities easily bypassed statutory hurdles, vulnerable tribal families saw their legitimate land claims overwhelmingly denied. The CAG noted a complete breakdown in the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, highlighting that non-functional district committees resulted in a 65% rejection rate of tribal forest claims. The CAG’s indictment extends to a complete breakdown in the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006. Non-functional district committees resulted in a 65% rejection rate of tribal forest claims. Furthermore, the administration provided zero evidence of granting habitat rights to Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) like the Toto, Birhor, and Lodha tribes, capping off a record of severe financial ruin and systemic land alienation.On July 25, 2026, the newly elected Suvendu Adhikari government tabled 28 pending Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports in the state Legislative Assembly after a gap of four years.