An inter-ministerial panel chaired by Coal Ministry’s Additional Secretary A K Dubey, looking into the issue of bank guarantees of the previous allottees pertaining to 127 coal blocks, has asked the Coal Controller to re-calculate the bank guarantee to be deducted in the case of those prior mine allottees that have delayed production of blocks and have filed court cases against the show-cause notices issued to them. The inter-ministerial panel's minutes of the meeting said that there were 55 court cases filed by various prior allocatees in the matter and it was considered expedient to take up these cases first, to resolve the issue of Bank Guarantee.
The panel has further said that in those cases where the prior allocatee did not submit application in time due to which there had been slippage of a particular milestone, the related subsequent milestones not achieved would logically be considered as a slippage on part of the prior allocatee. Coal Controller’s Organisation (CCO) would redo the computation of Bank Guarantee deduction on this principle uniformly.
The CCO will also take into account the comments from the Central Mine Planning & Design Institute, as per minutes of the meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG). The IMG further said 31 cases -- where either there was no condition of BG in the allocation letter or BG matter was reviewed earlier by the government -- could be dropped from the total cases of 127 coal blocks that were issued show-cause notices.
The government had in January issued fresh show-cause notices to prior allottees of coal blocks, seeking reasons for delay in mine development and warned of deducting their bank guarantees if they failed to furnish replies.