PowerMin yet to nominate panel member to probe JSPL coal sale

Inter-ministerial panel under the chairmanship of Coal Advisor, set up in Aug was asked to submit its report within two months

The Power Ministry is yet to nominate a member which would be part of the panel set up to probe allegations of JSPL selling coal to third parties from its captive mines, a move that may delay the investigation.

"The Coal Ministry had asked Power ministry to immediately nominate a member from its ministry on the committee set up to probe allegations of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) selling coal to third parties from its mines," a source privy to the development said.

"However, till today the Coal Ministry has not received any communication from the Power Ministry on the same," the source said.

The Coal Ministry had written to the Power Ministry on the issue almost a month back, the source added.

The inter-ministerial panel under the chairmanship of Coal Advisor, set up in August was asked to submit its report within two months.

However, JSPL had denied diverting coal from captive mines.

When contacted, JSPL, Director, External Affairs Manu Kapoor in an email had said, "The coal from all our captive mines are used in respective end use plants. There is no diversion of any coal from any mine whatsoever. The allegations are completely baseless."

JSPL was allocated Gare Palma IV/1 coal block in Hasdeo-Arand coalfields in Chhattisgarh having geological reserves of 124 million tonnes (MT) for meeting the requirement of its sponge iron plant in 1996.

The Coal Ministry had also alloted the company Gare Palma IV/6 mine in Mand Raigarh coalfields in Chhattisgarh. The mine, which has a geological reserves of 156 MT, was given to the company for sponge iron plant in 2006.

Earlier, the Coal Ministry had also asked Power Ministry to probe alleged "violation" of captive coal block allocation norms by JSPL through selling surplus power generated by leftover coal from its mine in Chhattisgarh to others.