Govt "arbitrarily" changed end-use of coal blocks: JSPL

Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and its promoter Naveen Jindal today told Delhi High Court that the government has "arbitrarily" applied its criteria for change of end-use of two coal blocks earlier allocated to the company while earmarking them for auction.
The submission was made before a bench of justices B D Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva by senior advocate Kapil Sibal who contended that a technical committee's recommendations relied upon by the Coal Ministry to change end-use of several blocks, including those of JSPL, cannot be considered as policy of the government.
He also said the committee's recommendations were implemented "arbitrarily" and "without application of mind" and in such a manner so as to exclude JSPL from bidding for the blocks Utkal B1 in Odisha and Gare Palma IV/6 in Chhattisgarh whose end-use was changed from iron and steel to power.

He claimed that the government had chosen to implement the recommendations in such a manner so as to "favour" the power sector, when such a prioritisation has not be provided for under the Coal Ordinance of 2014.
Sibal alleged "discrimination" between private companies and state-owned enterprises in the manner of implementing the coal block allotment criteria while there was no criteria for the auction process.
He said that as per the government's December 18, 2014, notification, any company bidding for the blocks was required to have already invested 60 per cent of the project cost which would thus prevent any new entrant not having a power unit in Odisha or Chhattisgarh from participating in the auction.

The companies already having power units in these areas have coal linkages, he added.
Sibal was addressing arguments to counter the submissions made by the Attorney General (AG) on January 20. The court will now hear arguments on January 29 when it is likely to conclude the hearing in the matter.