The court fixed the matter for July 28 for order on cognisance.
Former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, ex-Jharkhand chief secretary Ashok Kumar Basu and six others have been chargesheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation in a coal block allocation scam case.
India, which wants to double its coal output by 2020, in February raised the tax on mining coal to $6 per tonne from $1 in a bid to make it more expensive to consume the dirty fuel
As per norms, sanction for prosecution of government employees accused of corruption has to be given within four months' stipulated time.
How the 4 ministries have performed
With CBI admitting that it had shared its status report on coal block allocation scam with Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, the Bharatiya Janata Party has demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh alleging that he was using the law ministry to save himself from the probe in the case.
Faced with one setback after another in expanding the scope of mining in the country, almost all the major miners of the world have wound down their operations in India.
The Trinamool Congress leader had been languishing without a portfolio for over four months.
Their coal block bids may be referred to CCI.
Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) is India's largest engineering and manufacturing enterprise, operating across energy, industry, and infrastructure sectors. The investment path for the stock is based on a large order backlog, continued strong order inflows, and rising power demand, which should push demand for BHEL's equipment and services. BHEL has historically held over 70 per cent market share in power projects.
Power generating companies (gencos) that use imported coal to produce electricity, may find it difficult to switch on their idle units immediately in the wake of high fuel costs, several players have told Business Standard. Recently, the Union power ministry had invoked Section 11 of the Electricity Act mandating all imported coal-based plants to generate power at full capacity. However, some generating companies that use imported coal, argue that it is simply unviable for them to produce power when the price of coal in the international market is high, while the per-unit price of power has been capped at Rs 12 per unit on the domestic power exchange.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday filed a fresh status report in a sealed envelop in the Supreme Court on coal block allocation scam giving details of the ongoing probe in which companies, business tycoons and bureaucrats have come under its scanner.
The latest numbers showed 34 of India's 90 power stations were running on critical coal stocks.
The Union government has threatened to cancel coal block allocations of as many as 17 companies for failure to develop those allotted to them years before. These include big companies such as Tata Iron and Steel, Sterlite Energy, GMR Energy, ArcelorMittal India, Reliance Energy, GVK Power, Lanco Group and Rungta Mines.
The scheme, which was earlier implemented by the coal companies, has been extended for the current fiscal also.
Unexpected discovery of huge coal reserves beneath NTPC's Karanpura plant site has led to a stand-off between the coal and power ministries.
Timely commissioning of over 50,000 Mw of power generation capacity has been jeopardised owing to the environment ministry's latest move to classify India's coal-bearing regions as "go" and "no-go" areas. This comes at a time when the country is striving to bridge the widening gap in the demand and supply of electricity.
The Supreme Court order has created a new legal framework for coal mining by ruling that only the Union government and its entities can do it.
She lashed out at the BJP and Leader of Opposition in West Bengal assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, for "threatening" Trinamool Congress leaders with arrests by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate.
The headline for corporate profit growth has been very encouraging in the July-September quarter (Q2) of 2023-24 (FY24), with the combined net profit of listed companies up by 38 per cent year-on-year. However, the earnings distribution has been very lopsided, with most of the growth coming from public-sector oil-marketing companies (OMCs), banks, non-bank lenders, automobile (auto) companies, and cement producers. By comparison, companies from information technology services, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), retail, and consumer durables were disappointed, experiencing a sharp slowdown in net sales growth and a relatively muted increase in reported net profit.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said huge investment made by companies in coal blocks without getting clearance cannot be a ground for not cancelling licences and asked the Centre to respond whether it intends to de-allocate such allocations.
Team Anna on Saturday clubbed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee with 13 other cabinet ministers, whom they accused of corruption, which the Congress dismissed as "unsubstantiated averments" that need not be responded to.
Any delay in passing the coal bill may cause a crisis in the coal sector which would also affect the power sector.
Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal on Thursday said mining should be allowed in 90 per cent of the areas classified as no-mining zones by the Environment Ministry and a proposal will be tabled before Cabinet soon, after ascertaining the views of different ministries.
The members walked out as soon as Congress member Dhani Rami Shandil put a question to Union Coal Minister Shibu Soren.
For Swarup, the job would not be just challenging but also tricky, given the negativity attached to the sector.
Bankers claim they have received good response to the roadshows held abroad for Coal India, IndianOil and PowerGrid.
With deficient monsoon reducing hydropower generation in the country by around 40 per cent, the power ministry has started stressing more on power from coal and natural gas.
Indian and Canada are looking at exploring more opportunities in the mining sector.
The Group of Ministers, set up to look into the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, met on Monday for discussion with Union ministry secretary-level officers.
If the fear of ED could drive the powerful people of today to be honest or at least be minimally corrupt, will it not be a great thing for our nation?, asks Sudhir Bisht.
Once seen as a spokesman of the government on internal security matters, Sriprakash Jaiswal was on Wednesday elevated to Cabinet rank and retained in the coal ministry. A three-time Lok Sabha member from Kanpur, Jaiswal's elevation to the Cabinet rank comes at a time when elections are scheduled in Uttar Pradesh, where he served as the state unit chief of the Congress. He has shed the portfolio of statistics and programme implementation.
Aditya Aluminium project ready but clearances still stuck for mine
At the review meeting, chaired by cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba in New Delhi, the IMD said above normal maximum temperatures are likely over most parts of northeast, east and central India and some parts of northwest India.
The e-auction is seeing aggressive bidding.
The sanction by the Government of India is mandatory for intitiating legal suit against any personnel of the security forces for any action taken by them while discharging their duties under section 197(2) Cr.P.C and Section 6 of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), the release said.
Punjab has sent an email saying that four deaths suspected to be due to lack of oxygen have been reported in a private hospital in Amritsar district, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in a written reply.
A greater payment security mechanism for power generation companies to ensure timely payouts for supply of electricity will be in focus in 2022 as stricter rules are on the anvil for 24x7 power supply amid discoms' outstanding dues at a whopping Rs 1.56 lakh crore. Mounting outstanding dues of distribution companies (discoms) to electricity generation companies (gencos) have been a perennial issue affecting the entire value chain in the power sector and are also a hindrance for the ambitious goal of 24x7 power supply across the country even when the payment for coal is made in advance. The situation persists despite the fact that discoms' dues become overdue after 45 days of generating bills and they also have to pay penal interest on the overdue amount in most of the cases to gencos.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday sought the Supreme Court's permission to forward its proposal to the Home Ministry for issuance of Letters Rogatory to Malaysia for seeking information about a firm which is claimed to be a part of consortium of an Indian firm accused in coal gate.
The government on Thursday fixed Rs 358 a share as the floor price for up to 10 per cent stake sale in Coal India on Friday, which may help the exchequer garner about Rs 22,600 crore (Rs 226 billion) in the biggest sale of shares.