Coal news and updates

Govt. to take a call on captive coal blocks post SC verdict: Goyal

September 8: The government will take a call on what to do with captive coal blocks only after getting a clarification in this respect from the supreme court, which is likely to announce a final verdict on alleged ‘irregularities’ in allocation of such blocks, Minister of State for Coal and Power Piyush Goyal has said.

“Only once the verdict is out, we will decide and work out plans. We will abide Supreme Court order,”Goyal said in Delhi while announcing his achievements of 100 days as Coal, Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister.

The minister was responding to queries on whether the government will go for auction of blocks if all the blocks are de-allocated by the apex court.

To a query, Goyal said that the government has not not pleaded before the court not to de-allocate the existing 40 operational coal blocks, six coal blocks that would come to operation in 2014-15 and 15 lignite blocks that have already come to production or will soon start production.

“We have not requested the court not to de-allocate operational blocks,” the minister stressed.

Incidentally, on September 1, the attorney general Mukul Rohatgi had pleaded before the Supreme Court to exempt 46 coal blocks from the purview of its ruling declaring all 218 blocks allocated since 1993 as “illegal”.