Coal news and updates

MoC seeks land status of “illegal” blocks, employee count

October 7: Allocatees of the 204 coal blocks which have been declared illegal by the Supreme Court have been asked to furnish the status of ownership of land apart from the number of employees on the rolls of the respective companies (except contractual employees of the MDOs), by October 7, according to an official release from the Ministry of Coal.

It may be recalled that the Supreme Court, in its judgment dated August 25, 2014 and order of September 24, 2014, declared all coal blocks allocations made through the Screening Committee and government dispensation route since 1993 as “illegal” and quashed the allocation of 204 of the 218 coal blocks, except Tasra and Pakri Barwadih and the 12 blocks allocated to the UMPPs.

In the case of 42 coal blocks (37 producing and five likely to come to production), cancellation shall take place from March 31, 2015.