Department of Public Enterprise has opposed a coal ministry proposal to provide performance related pay (PRP) from consolidated funds to executives of CIL arms that made losses in the relevant period.

It has said this is not in conformity with norms and would soon send a note to Cabinet in this regard. In the absence of sufficient profit before tax (PBT), loss making CPSEs are not allowed to distribute PRP, the DPE officials said adding there is no concept of providing PRP based on the consolidated account of holding company.

Amid fuel supply issues, the Power Ministry has suggested that if power companies are penalised for delays in commercial operation of its units, the same should also apply for Coal India (CIL) for

Amid fuel supply issues, the Power Ministry has suggested that if power companies are penalised for delays in commercial operation of its units, the same should also apply for CIL for not supplying coal as per commitment.

Such a recommendation from the Power Ministry comes at a time when not all power companies have signed fuel supply agreement (FSA) with Coal India on account of objections raised by the power firms on some of the clauses of pacts.

The state government has sought detail status of two coal blocks which were allotted jointly to Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) and three other O P Jindal group firms seven years ago.

“Information regarding the present status of the coal blocks and end use projects of the co-allocatees of the coal block is not available in this department. Furnish coal block allocation letter and approved mining plan to this department at the earliest for reference and necessary action,” state steel and mines department told MCL, the subsidiary of Coal India Ltd (CIL).

During the year, govt also contemplated to open up sector for commercial mining

Coal fired a minefield of controversies in 2012, fuelled by CAG estimates of a huge Rs 1.86 lakh crore loss for allocation of coal blocks to business houses without auction which served as fodder to the Opposition parties to target the government. The blaze started from a leaked draft report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) that initially had a figure of Rs 10.6 lakh crore loss resulting from the controversial allocation of coal blocks to about 100 companies without bidding.

The Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) has assured the Coal Ministry that it would examine the issue of whether in-principle environment and forest clearances can be granted to coal blocks t

Unresolved issues include whether to provide an 'in principle' environment clearance to the blocks on offer

The Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) has assured the Coal Ministry that it would examine the issue of whether in-principle environment and forest clearances can be granted to coal blocks that are to be put up for auction. Senior officials of coal ministry today met top officials of Environment Ministry in this regard here and discussed at length the issue of such clearances to mines that are to be auctioned.

In its first meeting, the 14-member panel discussed eligibility criteria for coal block applicants

An inter-ministerial panel today discussed the mechanism for allotting coal mines to public sector firms. The 14-member panel, headed by Coal Secretary AK Srivastava, in its first meeting also discussed the eligibility criteria for coal block applicants. "The Inter-Ministerial Group [IMG] met for the first time today after its formation under the chairmanship of coal secretary. During the meeting it was discussed on how to evaluate the applications [of government firms] and what should be the criteria for allotting mines," a government official said

After de-allocating three coal blocks- Utkal-D, Manadakini-B and Baitarani West allocated to Odisha PSUs, the Coal ministry has sought details of joint venture (JV) arrangements with private players and mode of selection of the JV partners.

The coal ministry in a recent letter to Odisha chief secretary B K Patnaik, sought to know if the state PSU that was allotted coal block entered into an JV arrangement with private companies and whether legal opinion was sought for such an arrangement.

Amid persisting issues over fuel supplies for power projects, the coal ministry has set up an inter-ministerial panel to look into applications from government companies for allocation of coal bloc