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 | Missing detail in coal records haunts govt -Rajeev Deshpande

Missing detail in coal records haunts govt -Rajeev Deshpande

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Nov 7, 2012   modified Modified on Nov 7, 2012
-The Times of India

The mystery of the missing detail in official files on why some coal block applicants won while others lost out is proving to be the biggest hurdle in the Centre's bid to ward off the threat of the Supreme Court scrapping all allocations.

Aware that an unfavourable verdict on Coalgate will be a body blow to its bid to push-start the economy, the government is planning a careful defence that candidly admits to "aberrations" but strongly argues coal block allocations under UPA's watch are largely untainted.

The thin ice the government needs to negotiate is the crucial 35th and 36th meetings of the screening committee that recommended allotment of blocks that fail to disclose the logic of comparative evaluation in the allocations, opening the Centre to the charge of arbitrariness.

Sources said the government is likely to make the point that there were criteria such as end-use status, financials, land and water resources in assessing serious players. If a certain private operator was selected, the application was not deficient even though another might have been equally worthy.

It will claim there was a method to the allocation process even if results were not always desirable. In explaining "difficult cases", the Centre will point to the need to accommodate preferences of the states in the allocation process as their approval is essential for mining operations.

On the SC's question regarding the influential bagging coal blocks, the government hopes to say that these were few in number and were also being screened by an inter-ministerial committee.

Six questions the SC has posed while hearing a PIL include why competitive bidding was not followed and if guidelines were violated rendering the allocation process arbitrary and open to malafide. If the government fails to provide satisfactory answers, it runs the risk of coal allocations going the 2G way.

At a time when the government is straining every sinew to bump up coal production and power generation, scrapping of coal allocations can set the clock back irretrievably as the political calendar recently referred to by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ticks away.

The job of countering the comptroller and auditor general's conclusion that lack of rationale in the screening committee's selection process means the process was arbitrary is not easy to rebut. But the government intends to make a game effort, saying criteria and guidelines were indeed applied.

Rather than the dodgy allocations, it is the slack procedures adopted by the screening committee that are giving the government a headache.

On lack of competitive bidding, the government is expected to take the view that the allocation process evolved over 10-15 years.

There were delays in putting in place a fair and equitable policy despite UPA having considered competitive bidding as early as 2003. Until a law was passed, the screening committee route remained in vogue with all its faults and benefits.

The Times of India, 7 November, 2012, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Missing-detail-in-coal-records-haunts-govt/articleshow/17121681.cms


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