Coal India could now be asked to re-look at the penalty clause in fuel supply agreements (FSAs) as power companies are evidently not happy with how it stands in the present form. But Coal India board will have to take a final call on it, said Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal in an exclusive interview with CNBC Tv18.
Jaiswal said Coal India has signed 18 FSAs with power companies so far. He said he has also sought legal opinion on the upcoming coal block allocations. A group of ministers (GoM) on coal regulation will be formed in the next few days.
But Economic Times reported on May 19, that “the company is yet to receive any directive or communication from the coal ministry for changing the fuel supply agreements to make it acceptable to power producers, Coal India chairman S Narsing Rao.”
Coal India could now be asked to re-look at the penalty clause in fuel supply agreements . Reuters
The minister however refused to comment on the CAG report which led to huge uproar and adjournment in the Parliament today. Jaiswal said he had not seen the report and therefore would not comment on it.
The report reportedly alleges that coal block allocation between 2004 and 2009 without auction is expected to have given rise to “undue benefits” that the government extended to private entities alone at more than Rs 1.8 lakh crore.
CPI(M) member Bansa Gopal Chowdhury led a group of members in the Parliament uproar demanding that the government table the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on allocation of coal blocks.
