Haryana to float fresh tender for coal mine

NEW DELHI: Haryana will float fresh tenders with a steeply higher reserve price to re-allott a coal mine following a direction from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which found several “infirmities” in the previous allocation process.

The state had in 2015 allotted the 59.60-hectare block at Dadam in Bhiwani at a reserve price of Rs 6.25 cr. In the new round to reallot it, bidding will start at Rs 115 crore, the winning price in the previous auction. The earlier licence has already been cancelled by the Manohar Lal government.

The 2015 allotment was to a two-member joint venture. The chief partner in the JV later backed out and the other company, Sunder Marketing Associates (SMA), wasn’t independently qualified to obtain the lease. But on an application by SMA, the state initially transferred the lease in its favour, before backtracking and issuing a notice to the company asking why the lease can’t be cancelled.

SMA went to court, but the government terminated the licence even as the case was in the court. Meanwhile, an individual also approached the HC alleging infirmities in the decision-making process by the government.

While refusing to grant any relief to SMA, the HC has held that the “selection process” deployed by Haryana government to allot the project was “flawed”.