VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, March 26: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren shot off a letter to the Narendra Modi government where he accused the Centre of not paying Rs. 1,36,042 crores to Jharkhand against coal mining.
In a letter addressed to Prahlad Joshi, Union Minister of Coal, Hemant Soren said that ‘non-payment’ of dues by the coal companies is causing huge loss to Jharkhand.
“Jharkhand is facing a huge economic crisis, which is impacting socio-economic development projects/schemes and obligations towards the State’s people. Therefore, your kind intervention is required in this matter to instruct the coal companies for the earliest payment of dues,” Soren wrote in the letter.
The Chief Minister said that coal is the mainstay of the state exchequer that constitutes 80 percent of the total exchequer. The socio-economic development of Jharkhand mainly depends on the revenue from these minerals. The CM said that the royalty and share of a state in the coal mining is decided on four broad categories namely washed coal royalty, common cause, land compensation and ad valorem. He quoted acts and rulings to support the case of Jharkhand. He deplored that the subsidiary units of Coal India Limited that are involved in the coal mining of Jharkhand don’t follow the rules and deny Jharkhand its due rights.
He said that the CIL subsidiary coal companies are paying royalty on the basis of run-of-mine coal rather than processed coal being despatched. The CM informed that several demand notices were raised by the concerned District Mining Officers to the CIL subsidiary coal companies in respect of washeries of Rajrappa, Piparwar, Kathara, Swang, Kargali, Moonidih and Mahuda collieries. In response to the demand notices the coal companies moved to Jharkhand High Court. In the due course of hearing the Courts ruled in favour of Rule 64B and Rule 64C of Mineral Concession Rules under which demand notices were raised.
He said that despite orders passed by the Jharkhand High Court so categorically and another by the Supreme Court in the matter of Tata Steel Limited and BCCL, coal companies are not paying royalty on washed coal resulting in huge pendency of the demand.
“This position of the law and judicial pronouncement is being well accepted by the ministry of coal in its reply to NITI Aayog, but denying payment on account that it will increase the cost of the coal in the domestic market. Our position is that if the law permits and allows us to collect revenue on washed coal it should be paid to the state. Dues in this respect are approx. Rs. 2,900 crores,” he said.
The chief minister informed that over the years CIL subsidiary coal companies have acquired 32,802.02 acres of GM land and 6,655.72 acres of GM-JJ land in Jharkhand for mining purposes. Compensation for acquisition of the Government land by CIL Subsidiaries is due with GM land report to the tune of Rs. 38,460 crores and GM-JJ land to the tune of Rs. 2682 crores, which mean that total dues to the tune of Rs.41,142 crores are pending against CIL’s subsidiaries namely Central Coalfields Limited (CCL), Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) and Eastern Coalfield Limited.
“The Government of Jharkhand has been placing its demand at various forums, but so far it has not yielded any positive response. Since Coal Companies have not paid dues of land compensation of Rs. 41142 crores, hence an approximate interest amount of around 60,000 crores is also due. Total due with respect to non-payment of land compensation is Rs. 101142 crores. 4. Dues with respect to non-payment of Royalty of coal by CIL on sale price on ad valorem basis
The royalty on coal should have ideally been paid at the rates as prescribed in the Third Schedule of Mines and Minerals (Regulation Development) Act, 1957. The rate of royalty on coal ought to be 14% ad-valorem on price of coal. But CCL, BCCL and ECL are paying royalty on prices notified by the Ministry of Coal, thereby making a huge loss to the State’s exchequer.
Jharkhand also objected when the National Coal Index was notified by the Central Government which constitutes prices of coal on a non-arm length basis. Prices of captive coal, import is also taken into consideration lowering the overall price of coal notifies through NCI. CCL, BCCL and ECL are not following Statutes while making payments on royalty.
