All coal blocks awarded after 1993 illegal: Panel

NEW DELHI: All coal blocks distributed between 1993 and 2008 were done in an unauthorized manner and allotment of all mines where production is yet to start should be cancelled, the Standing Committee on Coal and Steel has said in its latest report that is slated to be tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.


The committee, headed by Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee, has also recommended that all "personnel" who have been involved "directly or indirectly" in the allocation process "should be investigated for their role".

The report has argued that there was no transparency in the allocation process and the exchequer did not get any revenue from allocation of the blocks. It has pointed out that the allocations between 1993 and 2004 were done without any advertisement or public information.

The report has said that though information was put up on government website for allotments between 2004 and 2008, there was still a lack of transparency since there was no bidding and the government did not get any revenue.

Sources told ToI that the committee could not get any information from "any quarter" on either the quantity or the value of coal produced till date from the allotted blocks. "It is surprising that nobody seems to have the information. How can you believe that? With so many blocks one can imagine the money that would be at stake," they said.

The committee has steered clear of taking a position on the federal auditor's report on the allocation of blocks. But its line of argument is similar to the tone of Comptroller and Auditor General's ( CAG) report, tabled in Parliament last year, which said the government gave away windfall benefit of Rs 1.86 lakh crore to private entities by distributing blocks without bidding.

On March 22, ToI had first reported the draft of the CAG's report that said the government extended windfall gains of Rs 10.67 lakh crore to private and government entities by distributing 155 blocks without bidding between 2004 and 2009.

On May 22, ToI again first reported that the final CAG report lowered the estimated windfall gains to Rs 1.86 lakh crore by excluding the state-run companies and joint ventures with government entities from the final report.

The coal ministry had argued for separating allocations to private companies on the ground that state entities or their joint ventures were in any case audited separately by CAG.

The CAG report, tabled in Parliament on August 17, put the UPA government in a spot, with the Opposition stalling Parliament's business for several days.

The standing committee's report, coming at a time when the Opposition has once again raked up the coal block is sure to add to the sense of crony capitalism and favouritism in allotment of coal blocks. But inclusion of allotments done way back in 1993 may give the government some leeway in arguing that is a case of policy void rather than shortcomings in governance.