Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Govt may take back 30 more coal blocks- Aman Malik

Govt may take back 30 more coal blocks- Aman Malik

Share this article Share this article
published Published on May 15, 2013   modified Modified on May 15, 2013
-Live Mint


Show cause notices to be issued to companies, including Jindal Steel, Tata Power, GVK Power and Jaypee Group

The government is set to issue show cause notices to the holders of at least 30 captive coal blocks, according to a senior coal ministry official with direct knowledge of the matter.

Companies holding these blocks will be asked to explain why they failed to develop them and if the government is not satisfied with their responses, the allocations may be cancelled.

"An IMG (inter-ministerial group) looking into the issue of development of coal blocks had recommended a few days back that the notices should be sent. Once the coal minister gives the go-ahead, these notices will be served," the official said. The official, who didn't want to be identified, said coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal was likely to give his approval in a day or two.

The official added that holders of 32 blocks were given so-called caution notices in January 2012 for failing to develop the blocks allocated to them.

"Out of these, development work has begun on one block, and the company holding another had approached a high court when the IMG had recommended the forfeiture of its bank guarantee in September. So, notices will not be immediately served on these two," the official added.

The companies that are likely to be served notices include some of the prominent ones in the power and steel sectors.

They include Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, Tata Power Co. Ltd, GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd and Jaypee Group. When contacted by Mint on Tuesday, spokespersons for the companies said they would revert with a comment, but hadn't done so as of press time.

If the allocation of these 30 blocks or some of them is indeed cancelled, it would be the first such exercise since December last year.

In August, the Comptroller and Auditor General, the government auditor, said in a report that the allocation, rather than auction, of coal blocks between 2005 and 2009 had caused notional losses to the tune of `1.86 trillion to the national exchequer.

Following this, between October and December, the government cancelled the allocation of at least 15 coal blocks and encashed the bank guarantees of at least 14 other allottees on the grounds that they had failed to develop them.

The government is likely to put up at least 36 new coal blocks for auction. These, however, will not include the 15 allocations that have so far been cancelled.

On 14 April, Mint reported that the government will provide prospective bidders with information on the financial viability of coalfields before they are auctioned.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is inquiring into all allotments since 1993, submitted its status report on the alleged coal scam before the Supreme Court on 8 March. The report has not been made public yet.
On 23 April, a parliamentary panel that had reviewed the process of the coal block allocations, had said in a report that all allotments since 1993 should be cancelled.

The panel said that the "whole procedure adopted by the government for distributing coal blocks betrays the confidence of the people of our country reposed in the government".

On Monday , CBI questioned Dasari Narayan Rao, who was a junior minister in the coal ministry during the time a bulk of the blocks were allocated.

On 10 May, law minister Ashwani Kumar resigned after CBI said in an affidavit in the Supreme Court, that he, along with officials from the coal ministry and the Prime Minister's office, had effected changes in its status report on coal block allocation irregularities.


Live Mint, 15 May, 2013, http://www.livemint.com/Politics/fSaK2FTKXOlxc288goe2RL/Govt-may-take-back-30-more-coal-blocks.html


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close