Hats off to the present incumbent in the post of Comptroller and Auditor General, namely, Mr. Vinod Rai who has been extraordinarily vigilant and vigorous in exposing the extent of flaw prevalent in policy and procedure involved in implementation of different schemes of government or its agencies. The latest exposure of the series refers to a draft report prepared by CAG at allocation of coal blocks by the Ministry of Coal in New Delhi from 2006 to 2009. As early as July 28, 2006, the CAG draft report notes, the Department of Legal Affairs told the ministry that the government could, if it wished, introduce competitive bidding by amending the "administrative instructions".
According to the lists of allotment in the CAG's draft report, 61 coal blocks were allotted to private companies in 2006. This is the highest number of allocations made between 2004 and 2009 in terms of how many blocks were given away in a year. However, in terms of reserves, 2009 stands out inasmuch as the government gave away a reserve of 5,216 mt (million tonnes) through 12 mines against 3,793 mt in 2006. Of this around 3,000 mt was given away to two private parties, a Tata group joint venture and a Jindal group unit, on a single day, namely, February 27, 2009, barely a month before the Lok Sabha elections that year. It speaks volumes of the power wielded by and the influence exercised by the industrial giants on the eve of General Elections.
Top level CAG sources have indicated that the draft estimate on allocation of coal block was 'conservative'. They were based on an elaborate calculation that took account of mining costs and notified prices of Coal India Ltd. (CIL) in a continguous region, while assuming 90% extractable reserves and uniform behaviour of output, costs and prices over the 25-year life of the mining lease.
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