New Delhi, Feb. 24: The government has pushed back the auction of the second lot of coal blocks to March 2 from February 25 because of legal issues.
The 21 blocks in the lot belong to the category of schedule III mines, which were those on the verge of commission before the Supreme Court declared their allocation illegal in September.
The coal ministry will announce the name of the qualified bidders on March 2. The e-auction will begin on March 4 and continue till March 8.
Around 131 bidders had submitted the technical bids for 19 blocks on February 15.
The bids for Utkal-B1 and Utkal B-2 were not opened because the matter was sub-judice.
A petition by Sarda Energy in the Delhi high court has forced the government to delay the auction, The court, which will hear the case on February 27, has asked the government to look into the possibility of postponing the auction.
“The list of qualified bidders is ready and we will open the initial price offer as well. The proceedings are as per schedule. The auction will be after the high court hears the matter,” a senior official said.
Sources said public disclosure would commence once the court offered clarity on the matter. On Friday, the court will hear the arguments over the Coal Ordinance Special Provisions Act, 2014.
The ordinance was promulgated to reallocate the 204 blocks, which were cancelled by the Supreme Court in September.
In its petition, Sarda Energy has asked for the scrapping of the “initial offer price (IPO)” stage of the bidding. The company has asked that there should be only two rounds – technical and financial – in the bidding and the government should not select the top 50 per cent bids or five bidders on the basis of the IPO filed along with the technical submissions.
“The coal ministry was asked by the Delhi high court to see if they can wait till the court gets clarity on the provisions of the ordinance. There won’t be any delay as back-end proceedings are going on. Only public announcements are not being made,” officials said.
A prospective bidder of a schedule III block must have incurred an expenditure of not less than 60 per cent of the total project cost of the unit.
Companies have to submit technical bids, which are then evaluated by the nominated authority. The top five technically qualified bidders on the basis of their initial price offers can go ahead and bid in the auction.
The mines on offer under schedule III include Brinda and Sisai in Jharkhand, Durgapur and Taraimar in Chhattisgarh, Jamkhani in Odisha, Lohari in Jharkhand, Marki MangliIV in Maharashtra, Nerad Malegaon in Maharashtra, Dongrital II (Phase I) in Madhya Pradesh, Ganeshpur in Jharkhand, Jitpur in Jharkhand and Mandakini A in Odisha.
Other mines on auction are Meral, Rohne and Dumri and Moitra in Jharkhand, Utkal C in Odisha, Gare Palma IV/8 in Chhattisgarh, Kosara Dongargaon in Maharashtra, Mandla South in Madhya Pradesh and Tare in Chhattisgarh.
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