Coal Regulator Bill may be introduced in winter session

A bill to set up a coal regulatory authority may be placed in Parliament during the winter session, a top government official said today.

 

"The Coal Regulatory Bill will be presented in Parliament in the winter session," Coal Secretary S K Srivastava said at a conference on 'Developing Regulatory Framework for Indian Coal Sector: International Practices' organised by Infraline Energy here.

 

He said the ministry is still examining the option of issuing an executive order to set up the coal regulator, which is being vetted by the Law Ministry.

 

The coal regulator, he said, will design the methodology based on which Coal India will fix prices of the fuel.

 

The winter session of Parliament is scheduled to be held from December 5 to 20.

 

The Cabinet had approved the draft bill on setting up the coal regulatory authority in June.

 

A panel of ministers had earlier approved the draft bill, which seeks to set up an independent regulatory authority for the coal sector to address issues such as supply and quality.

 

The secretary said a mechanism for third-party sampling of coal quality has been put in place on October 1.

 

The proposed authority will also regulate testing methods for declaring grades or quality of coal, specify procedures for automatic coal sampling and adjudicate disputes between parties, monitor closure of mines and approve mining plans, among others.