Business Standard reported that the Ministry of Coal has given the go-ahead to the Odisha government to process the pending mineral concession applications for the allocated coal blocks even as it prepares to seal the fate of 41 allocatees who have failed to get the mandatory clearances to start mining operation.

Mr Vivek Bharadwaj, joint secretary, MoC wrote to Odisha chief secretary Mr JK Mohapatra, that �The state government may take all steps for executing the mining leases making it clear in the order that this would be subject to final orders to be passed by the Supreme Court and without prejudice to the investigation or registration of cases by the CBI.

�In the light of pending litigations and investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Odisha had announced a freeze on processing of mining lease (ML) of all allocated coal blocks.

Mr Mohapatra, on October 23 last year, had sought clarification from MoC if the state government could process pending coal block applications in view of the ongoing probe by the CBI and the matter being sub-judice.

The government inertia on clearing coal block files had hurt some of the big investors like Jindal Steel & Power Limited (JSPL), National Aluminium Company (Nalco), Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys Ltd (IMFA) and Monnet Ispat & Energy.

All these developers had made significant strides after winning the coal blocks, with the blocks either at ML (mining lease) or prospecting licence (PL) stage.

The Coal ministry had allocated 37 blocks in Odisha for captive utilisation between 1993 and 2013.

Of this, only the Talabira-I coal block allocated to Aditya Birla Group owned Hindalco Industries has gone into production.

Separately, the MoC has cleared the air on grant of mineral concessions to coal block allocatees following the amendment to Mines & Minerals (Development & Regulation), MMDR Act.

The MMDR Amendment Act came into force on February 13, 2012 and Section 11A was inserted by way of the amendment.

The new section provides that for the purpose of grant of reconnaissance permit (RP), PL or ML in respect of an area containing coal or lignite, the Central government, may select a company through auction by competitive bidding based on prescribed terms and conditions.

Source - Business Standard