Coal project ‘JV’ under SC scrutiny

NEWDELHI:THE Supreme Court on Tuesday sought response from Parsakente Collieries Ltd (PKCL), a subsidiary of Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd (RRVUNL) over a plea seeking cancellation of coal blocks allocated to it and being run by Adani Enterprises Ltd.

The petition alleged that PKCL is actually a joint venture between RRVUNL and Adani. It has been filed by social activist Sudeep Shrivastava and also claimed that the allotment has caused an estimated loss of ~1200 crore to the exchequer and been done despite the 2014 SC ruling.

The petition said the Adani Group owns 74% stake in the company and that the rest is held by RRVUNL. The company was re-allocated the coal block and allowed to carry on mining in 2015, it claimed.

A special bench led by Justice MB Lokur asked for the response on the petition. A bench headed by then CJI RM Lodha on September 24, 2014 had quashed the allocation of 214 coal blocks, made between 1993 to 2010.

Subsequent to the judgement, the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act 2015 was notified by the Centre stating that only government companies could carry out coal-mining operations. Under the amended rules, public sector undertakings were to have a minimum of 74% equity in any joint venture with private firms having a maximum of 26% equity. The petitioner alleged that despite the notification and the judgement RRVUNL renewed a JV deal with AEL PKCL in which the latter had a majority stake.