(a) whether the Government is aware that a number of private companies to whom coal blocks were allocated during
2006-09 have changed/diluted, in one form or the other, the ownership stakes after allocation;
(b) if so, the details thereof, State-wise including Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha;
(c) the details of ownership changes and the new companies to whom stakes were transferred, States-wise; and
(d) the action the Government has taken/proposes to take in this regard?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COAL (SHRI PRATIK PRAKASH BAPU PATIL)
(a) to (d): The coal blocks are allotted to the private companies, registered under the Companies Act, 1956 for
the purpose of specified end-uses in pursuance of the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973. The companies to
whom coal blocks have been allocated are bound by the prevailing statutes/rules/orders. The question of change/dilution
of the ownership stakes is to be viewed with reference to this. The allocation letters contain a condition that
‘mining of coal from the allocated captive coal block shall be carried out in accordance with the applicable
Statutes/Rules/Orders/Directives governing the mining of coal in the country’. It is incumbent on the concerned
coal block allocatees to approach the Government as and when required to do so under the law. In one case in the
State of Maharashtra where the change of ownership has come to the notice of the Ministry, the matter is under
examination in consultation with the Ministry of Law and Justice. No case of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha
has been reported.