Noticing irregularities in coking coal purchases, the Steel Ministry has set up a committee to look into the rationale behind PSUs buying more of the commodity when it is expensive, and less of it when cheaper.
Rejecting the plea, the court said the application was "vexatious" and it was apparently moved to delay the trial.
Former Coal Secretary P C Parakh, who was named by the Central Bureau of Investigation in a first information report on a coal block allocated to Hindalco, had joined three private firms after retirement, raising questions over his role in one of the companies that's now under the scanner after getting a block.
The court fixed the matter for July 28 for order on cognisance.
100-day agenda: Commerce ministry pushes for separate logistics department
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.
Plug-in hybrids have two engines and the electric part has a much larger battery than in the regular hybrids. Car companies, led by the Japanese, are pushing the Indian government to look at hybrids in the interim if it wants to reduce carbon emission.
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
The Centre has completed asset monetisation worth Rs 96,000 crore during FY22, surpassing the target of Rs 88,000 crore. For FY23, it has set itself a goal of Rs 1.62 trillion, and already has a pipeline of assets worth Rs 1.6 trillion under advanced stages of implementation, an official said. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday reviewed the progress made by several ministries and nudged departments to achieve the targets set for them, the official added.
How the 4 ministries have performed
The Trinamool Congress leader had been languishing without a portfolio for over four months.
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.
Their coal block bids may be referred to CCI.
As per norms, sanction for prosecution of government employees accused of corruption has to be given within four months' stipulated time.
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 Centre received 5.59 lakh public grievances against various government departments in the first half of this year, with the Department of Financial Services (DFS) getting most of such complaints, according to an official report.
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 scheme, which was earlier implemented by the coal companies, has been extended for the current fiscal also.
Public-sector enterprise stocks have seen a good run thus far in 2023-24 (FY24), with the S&P BSE PSU Index surging by over 26 per cent during the period, compared to an 11 per cent increase in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex.
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.
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.
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.
Any delay in passing the coal bill may cause a crisis in the coal sector which would also affect the power sector.
The members walked out as soon as Congress member Dhani Rami Shandil put a question to Union Coal Minister Shibu Soren.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved seven multi-tracking projects of Indian Railways at an estimated cost of around Rs 32,500 crore, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said. The proposed projects, which will be fully funded by the Centre, will help increase the existing line capacity, smoothen train operations, reduce congestion and facilitate ease of travelling and transportation. The projects covering 35 districts in nine states -- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal -- will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by 2,339 km and provide employment of an estimated 7.06 crore man-days to the people of the states.
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.
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.
'Inter-ministerial coordination, information on the proposed PSUs, and due diligence are taking longer than expected to conclude the process.'
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.
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.
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.
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