Cabinet allows PSUs to surrender non-operational coal mines 

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday approved the Coal Ministry’s proposal to give Central and State public sector undertakings (PSU) a one-time window to surrender non-operational coal mines without penalty, the government said on Friday.

The CCEA, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had taken the decision at Thursday evening’s meeting.

The government said in a statement that the PSUs would be allowed to surrender non-operational mines without giving any reason.

“This may release several coal mines which the present government PSU allottees are not in a position to develop or are disinterested and could be auctioned as per the present auction policy. Three months’ time will be granted to the allottee government companies to surrender the coal mines from the date of publication of the approved surrender policy,” the government statement read.

The government said that after the Supreme Court order on cancellation of coal blocks in 2014, many of those blocks had been allotted to PSUs.

“The allocation route was expeditious and it was expected that the coal requirement of State GENCOs would be met from those blocks… Given the context of allocation of coal blocks at that point of time, conditions for times lines for operationalisation of coal blocks were very stringent and firm leaving no wriggle room either to the successful allottee or the nominated authority. Penalisation for delay in operationalisation of coal mines has resulted in disputes and court cases,” the statement read.

It added that as of December 2021, 45 out of the 73 mines allotted to PSUs remained non-operational.

“Delays were due to reasons beyond the control of allottees, for example, law and order issues; enhancement in the area of forest from what was declared earlier; resistance of land-holders against land acquisition; geological surprises in terms of availability of coal resources,” the government said.

It added that the CCEA’s decision would lead to the coal blocks being offered under the recently launched commercial coal mines auction policy.