The Ministry of Coal published Draft Rules to replace the Auction by Competitive Bidding of Coal Mines Rules, 2012 and invited comments and suggestions on the same. Prayas reviewed the Draft Rules and submitted its comments and suggestions to the Ministry. The important comments related to

a) Need for much greater clarity and checks-and-balances related to commercial sale of coal
b) Need for much more transparency in the entire process of block allocations
c) Tighter and better eligibility and evaluation criteria for both auctions and allotments and
d) The role of current national coal companies such as CIL and SCCL in the new regime