Having just ended its tug of war with the Central Bureau of India (CBI) over search for missing files related to allocation of captive blocks, the Coal Ministry has resumed its scrutiny of non performing block owners and has summoned 30 such entities - namely SAIl, NTPC, Jindal Steel and Power ltd (JSPl) and Tata Steel among others - during a two-day meeting of its Inter Ministerial Group (IMG) on October 23 and 24 to seek explanation behind delay on their part in developing the reserves.
Official sources said that the two-day meeting of the IMG which is headed by Additional Secretary in the Coal Ministry AK Dubey, has been called to give the developers an opportunity to personally present their cases before it and explain reasons behind the delay in developing the blocks allotted to them.
The IMG had issued show cause notices to these 30 entities in June this year. The developers had been given a month's time to respond to the show cause notices.
Though these companies had subsequently sent their replies to the IMG, they have now been summoned for a one-to-one meeting with the committee. They will be given an opportunity to present their cases before the IMG, sources informed. If the panel is not convinced with the responses of the companies regarding the delay on their part in developing the blocks issued to them, then it could suggest cancellation of blocks or seizure of their bank guarantees, sources added.
The IMG had last met in July this year and in that meeting also it had advocated strong action against the erring block holders, in the form of serving explanatory memos to companies which have failed to develop the blocks even after the expiry of their deadlines.
Out of the 30 blocks which have been issued show-cause notices, four blocks belong to JSPl namely - Utkal B1, Ramchandi Promotional Block, Amarkunda Murgadangal and Urtan North (jointly held with Monnet Ispat and Energy). Two blocks namely Pakri Barwadih and Talaipalli blocks are with NTPC, and North of Akrapal block given to Tata Steel for coal-to-liquid project, sources said.
Apart from this, three blocks - Brinda, Sasai and Meral - of Abhijeet Infrastructure, one block (Sitanala) of SAIl, and one block (Tokisud North) of GVK Power (Goindwal Sahib) had also been served with notices by the IMG.
Though the IMG routinely meets and reviews performance of coal block holders and takes decision regarding their performance, the panel had come under sharp focus last year in the aftermath of the coal block allocation controversy. Between September and October 2012, the IMG had reviewed cases of 58 block owners and had suggested cancellation of reserves in some cases while recommending seizure of bank guarantees of certain parties.
Quite a few of those companies had challenged the Coal Ministry's decision (taken after heeding to IMG's recommendations of cancelling blocks given to certain holders) in courts.
The crackdown is part of Government's exercise to ensure that allotted blocks do not remain unproductive for long.last year the CAG in its report had estimated undue benefits to the tune of Rs 1.86 lakh crore to private players on account of coal blocks allotted to them allegedly on nomination basis without resorting to auction.