The Ministry of Coal has imposed a penalty of ₹1 lakh on GVK Power (Goindwal Sahib) for intentionally delaying the submission of requisite documents to allow coal mining to start at the Tokisud North mine in Jharkhand.
The company, a part of the Hyderabad-based GVK Power and Infrastructure, was the prior owner of the mine which was sold in the coal mine e-auctions earlier this year to Essar Power (Tokisud North mine) for a price of ₹1,110 a tonne.
GVK Power had also participated in the bidding but had lost out to Essar.
The mine has extractable reserves of 51.97 million tonne and fetched the highest bid amongst those reserved for the power sector.
The Coal Ministry has also asked GVK Power to submit the documents by September 15.
In its letter, the Coal Ministry said that it had sent a show-cause notice to GVK Power on July 27.
“It is clear that GVK Power (Goindwal Sahib) Ltd is intentionally not submitting these documents which is affecting the continuity of coal mining operations, which is the very objective of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015,” the Ministry wrote.
GVK Power did not respond when asked to comment on the development.
The first two rounds of the auctions concluded at the end of March, but five months later only seven out of the 28 mines sold have begun production. The Coal Ministry has said that the delay is on the part of the State Governments.
A review meeting had been held on July 27.
GVK Power and eight other previous owners had approached the Delhi High Court in February on claims on under compensation for their infrastructure at the mines which have been auctioned.
The judgement has been reserved on the matter.
In March, the Chairman and Managing Director of GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd, GVK Reddy had termed the coal mine auctions ‘unfair’.
The company had claimed it had invested ₹1,088 crore for developing the Tokisud North mine but a committee headed by former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Pratyush Sinha approved a compensation of only ₹57 crore.