Coal news and updates

Coal Ministry asks States to expedite clearances for auctioned mines

The Ministry for Coal has clarified to the State governments that for the purpose of transfer and mutation no fresh valuation is required for the land of coal mines that were auctioned earlier this year.

The Ministry has written to the Chief Secretaries of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and Jharkhand that all the land owned by the previous mine owner, whether acquired by the Government or the private party, has been directly vested to the winning bidder in the auctions held under the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act.

“Whatever be the earlier character of the land…it acquires the nomenclature of land acquired/owned by the prior allottee. There is thus no scope for fresh valuation of the land,” the letter from the Ministry stated.

The letter further clarified that the value of the coal mine land has been determined by the Coal Ministry only for the purpose of compensation to the prior allottee.

The State governments had also sought clarification on whether stamp duty and registration/mutation charges are payable by the successful bidders.

The Ministry of Coal clarified that stamp duty is applicable and that the successful bidders have already been informed about the same.

The Ministry urged the State governments to expedite the grant of necessary approvals and clearances to let the mining activities begin as soon as possible.

Till date, 31 mines have been auctioned under the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act while 27 mines have been allotted to public sector enterprises. However, delays in getting all approvals meant only seven have started production.

Earlier this week, Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (Independent Charge) Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy, had flagged the issue of confusion on stamp duty when asked about the delay in the start of production in the auctioned mines. Goyal also urged corporates to make use of the Coal Project Monitoring portal to flag their project delay issues. “Instead of writing open letters and issuing press releases about these issues, I urge them to use the Coal Project Monitoring portal where we can take up the issue and track the progress,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Coal Ministry also wrote to the auction winners of mines in the Gare Palma sector in Chhattisgarh. After one of the winners raised an issue that boundary of the mines do not tally with the GPS coordinates, the Ministry has issued fresh GPS coordinates for the mines and the vesting orders will be accordingly modified. However, the Ministry added that this does not affect the physical boundaries on the ground.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com