April 20, 2024 04:54 (IST)
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President signs ordinance, e-auction of coal blocks soon
New Delhi, Oct 21 (IBNS): President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday signed the ordinance on e-auction of coal blocks. This paved the way for new auction of allocation of 214 coal blocks which were quashed by Supreme Court last month.
Earlier on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA Government recommended promulgation of an Ordinance to the President to facilitate e-auction of coal blocks for private companies for captive use and allot mines directly to state and central PSUs.
Using the ordinance, the cabinet agreed to allow private Indian companies to mine and sell coal at an unspecified future date, setting the stage for the biggest liberalisation of the industry in more than 40 years.
The Centre also moved closer to selling a stake in state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp or ONGC in a major shake-up in the energy sector.
Speaking to NDTV, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, “The ordinance will allow commercial mining for domestic companies, will lead to investments and surplus in the coal sector and state governments can start using the enabling provision in it after the first round of coal mine auctions.”
Jaitley said the auction process would be "transparent" and completed in "three to four months" with proceeds going entirely to the state governments where the mines are located.
“After this is done, the government can immediately thereafter, so sometime thereafter, start using that enabling power which has been given under the enabling Act. Therefore it is a much needed step forward," he said.
The move comes against the backdrop of the Supreme Court last month quashing allocation of 214 coal blocks to various companies since 1993. According to Jaitley, the biggest beneficiaries would be the eastern states like Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh.
On Saturday, the cabinet freed diesel pricing of government intervention.
The move makes the state-run ONGC more attractive to investors by reducing the hefty discount on crude oil sales that the country's top oil producer must give to fuel retailers.
It has been learnt that the finance ministry hopes to raise up to $3 billion from the ONGC sale, almost a quarter of its target for asset sales for this financial year.
On the other hand, Left parties on Tuesday expressed their reservations on Government's decision to go in for e-auction of coal blocks for private parties and demanded its reversal while deciding to launch nationwide protests against "anti-people" policies next month.
CPI said "measures like decontrol of diesel prices, e-auction of coal blocks that may ultimately lead to total de-nationalisation of coalfields, intention to introduce bills for pursuance of policies of neo-liberalism that is ruining the economy."
Jaitley of course rubbished the claims. He asserted, “There's no de-nationalisation or privatisation of Coal India. Coal India to be principal player but there is space for competition.”
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