Land acquisition for commercial mining may come under coal law of 1957

Under Coal Bearing Areas Act, Centre will acquire land and then give it on lease to miners; SBI raises concerns on offtake, demand of coal from commercial mines

In order to ease the coal mining process for the upcoming commercial coal auction, the Centre is mulling to allow land acquisition under the Coal Bearing Areas Act, 1957. This would entail the Centre acquiring land and then giving it on lease to the miners.

Speaking at a stakeholders’ discussion on commercial coal mining held by Ficci, the nominated authority for coal auction said the Centre can only assist, and that it is the miners who need to persuade the state government for land acquisition.

“The Centre is thinking on an initiative wherein land acquisition would be allowed under the