The Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by the Home Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, is likely to meet on July 25 to discuss the Draft Coal Regulator Bill.
Allowing the regulator to decide on coal pricing was one of the contentious issues when the Draft Coal Regulator Bill was taken up by the Cabinet in May. The Cabinet had referred the matter to the GoM.
According to the draft note circulated by the nodal Coal Ministry for inter-ministerial discussions, the price of raw and washed coal as well as any other by-product generated during the process of coal washing has to be determined by the regulator.
Determining the price of coal produced by captive mines would be a basis to calculate the royalty and the price of coal declared as “surplus’’.
The proposed regulator would consider factors such as commercial principles, efficiency, competition, economic viability, and gross calorific value-based grading of coal to determine the price.
Other than determining price, the regulator would also be responsible for granting or cancelling mining authorisation, monitoring the utilisation of funds for the implementation of coal conservation and development, and specifying procedure for automatic coal sampling and weighing.
Appellate Tribunal
Anyone aggrieved by the decisions of the regulator can appeal to the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity. The Government would nominate one technical member from the coal sector to the tribunal. The regulator will have a chairperson and four members. Appointment of these members will be done by a committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary.
Other than a regulatory role, the authority will also have advisory functions. It would advise the Government on formulation of policies in the coal sector, development of mining technologies, promotion of competition, and investment in the industry.
eGoM on gas pricing
The Government has re-constituted the Empowered Group of Ministers (eGoM) panel that looks after pricing and allocation of gas produced from domestic blocks.
The Union Defence Minister, Mr A.K. Antony, will now head the panel that was earlier headed by President-elect Mr Pranab Mukherjee, said a Government official. “No date has been finalised till now for the eGoM meeting,” said the official.