GoM on Coal Regulatory Bill meets

The Group of Ministers (GoM) on coal regulatory Bill held its first meeting today to discuss the proposed legislation.

"This is the first time the GoM met. All ministries have presented their views. There will be at least 3-4 meetings," Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said.

Besides ensuring transparency in allocation of coal blocks, the proposed Bill seeks to provide a level-playing field to all stakeholders and promote investment in the sector.

As per the draft Bill, the regulator's functions include granting authorisation to any person for undertaking mining, monitoring and enforcing closure of mines and determining price of raw and washed coal.

Also, the regulator will attempt to expedite resolution of disputes relating to pricing of coal and put in place benchmarks for performance of companies in the sector.

The formation of the nine-member ministerial panel under the Chairmanship of Home Minister P Chidambaram was approved by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last month.

"The Home Minister has said the next meeting will happen soon. It will go to the cabinet before 2-3 months," Jaiswal said.

The Coal Ministry had moved a draft Bill for constitution of a coal regulatory authority to the Cabinet earlier.

However, following reservations expressed by some ministries on some provisions of the bill, it was decided to set up a GoM to look into the whole matter.

Law Minister Salman Khurshid, who is also a member of the ministerial panel, said, "We have asked them to come back with more issues.

"It's a regulatory authority, so what it will do and how much will do, I think needs to be expanded. Today no decision has been taken. No time-frame has been finalised for next meeting".

"There was no opposition. We looked into each feature. What needs to be done has been highlighted and Coal Ministry will come back with more homework on it. We are not in a position today to take a decision. More information is required," Khurshid added.

Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia are part of the ministerial panel among others.