Draft guidelines issued for coal block auction

The coal ministry Wednesday released draft guidelines for auction of 74 coal blocks only to specified end-users.

The guidelines will now be placed in the public domain to invite comments.

The President has promulgated an ordinance that would allow re-auction of 214 coal blocks cancelled by the Supreme Court.

"The floor and reserve price matrix are being worked out currently by authorities," Coal Secretary Anil Swarup told reporters here.

The reserve price will be determined before Dec 22, while the bidding fees will be based on geological reserves of coal mines, he added.

The coal block auctions are scheduled for Feb 11, 2015. The ministry hopes to complete the technical process of allotment by March 3, 2015, and issue the letter of award by March 16.

The apex court in September cancelled 214 coal blocks allotted between 1993 and 2010 on the grounds that the blocks had been allocated in an ad-hoc and arbitrary manner.