The Coal Ministry wants the proposed regulator for the sector empowered to determine prices as well.
“The Ministry wants that the proposed regulator specify the price of coal for all producers, including captive coal producers. The price shall be modified by the regulator not more than once a year,” said a Government official.
The nodal Ministry, which will present its views before the Group of Ministers (GoM), wants the price of raw and washed coal as well as any other by-product generated during the process of coal washing, to be determined by the regulator.
Pricing power to the regulator was one of the contentious issues when the Draft Coal Regulator Bill was taken up by the Cabinet in May. The Cabinet referred the matter to a GoM headed by the Home Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, which has not met yet.
Price calculation
Determining the price of coal produced by captive mines would be a basis to calculate the royalty and price of coal declared as ‘surplus.’ The 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 utilisation of funds for 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. The 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.