Coal Ministry to set up panel for valuation of 42 running blocks

The Coal Ministry has decided to constitute a six-member panel for valuation and assessment of the 42 running coal blocks which were deallocated by the Supreme Court.

"In pursuance to Supreme Court's judgement...wherein 204 coal blocks allocated to various companies, since 1993 to 2009 was quashed. Out of these 204 coal blocks 42 (37+5) are running coal mines," an official said.

"In order to assess the value of the assets to be paid for acquisition of these 42 running mines, the competent authority has decided to constitute a valuation committee," the official added.

The panel under the Chairmanship of Pratiyush Sinha, the retired IAS Officer, will have representative from the ministries of power, finance, law, coal and CMPDIL, the official said.

The committee will carry out assessment of the liabilities associated with the operations of the mine, the official added.

The official said that proposed terms of reference of the committee includes, "valuation of assets of each of the coal blocks (37+5)...land demarcated for afforestation and land for rehabilitation and re-settlement of persons affected by coal mining operations under the relevant law."

The panel shall recommend the value of the assets to be paid for acquisition and give its recommendations by November 10, the official said.

The committee may engage expert/consultants for the purpose of valuation of analysis of coal mines. The committee may consider selecting such experts from the approved panels of public sector banks/insurance companies.

In a major blow to the corporate sector, the Supreme Court had in September quashed allocation of 204 out of 218 coal blocks which were allotted to various companies since 1993.