Committee chaired by PM allows one-time window without reason and without penalty
Committee chaired by PM allows one-time window without reason and without penalty
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday approved the coal ministry’s proposal to give central and state-owned public sector companies (PSU) a one-time window to hand over idle coal mines without penalty, the government said on Friday.
The CCEA, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, made the decision at Thursday evening’s meeting.
The government said in a statement that PSUs would be allowed to surrender unserviceable mines without giving a reason.
“This could free up several coal mines that the current government’s PSU allocations are unable to develop or are uninterested in and which could be auctioned under current auction policies. Allocated government companies will be given a period of three months to surrender the coal mines from the date of publication of the approved surrender policy,” the government statement said.
The government said that after the Supreme Court’s 2014 order canceling coal blocks, many of those blocks were allocated to PSUs.
“The allocation route was expeditious and it was expected that the coal needs of the state GENCOs would be met from these blocks…Given the context of the coal block allocation at that time, the terms of the coal block operationalization timelines were very strict and firm and lets leaves no room for maneuver either for the successful assignee or for the appointed authority. Punishment for delays in starting up coal mines has led to disputes and court cases,” the statement said.
It added that as of December 2021, 45 of the 73 mines allocated to PSUs were not operational.
“Delays were due to reasons beyond the control of the assignee, such as law and order issues; Extension of forest area compared to what was declared earlier; resistance of landowners to land acquisition; geological surprises in terms of coal resource availability,” the government said.
It added that the CCEA’s decision would result in the coal blocks being offered under the recently introduced auction policy for commercial coal mines.
