Biodiversity board has also said that coal mining companies should share profits with stakeholders or biodiversity management committees
Coal India (CIL) is planning to move court against the Madhya Pradesh government decision defining coal as a biological resource and warning of imposing a benefit-sharing levy on state-run coal companies, which the coal ministry has termed as "double taxation."
On January 11, the Madhya Pradesh government's Biodiversity Board served notices to the three CIL subsidiaries — South Eastern Coalfields, Western Coalfields and Northern Coalfields has termed the extraction of coal for commercial purpose without informing it, as a punishable offence, saying that under the Biological Diversity Act 2002 coal has been defined as a biological resource.
The board has also said that the coal mining companies should share profits with stakeholders or biodiversity management committees. The chiefs of the CIL subsidiaries, however, refused to comply with the directive, saying that coal does not fall under the definition of biological resource as indicated in the Act.
In response, the Board's member-secretary said the replies were unacceptable and issued a supplementary notice. Under this provision, the representatives of the companies would have to appear before the Board to justify why no action should be taken against them for allegedly violating the Act. Company representatives appeared on March 20, and placed mine-wise production details along with their reasons for refusing to comply with the Board's directives. They were told to raise the matter with coal ministry, which should follow it up with the environment ministry for necessary clarifications.
Coal secretary Sanjay Kumar Srivastava has written to the environment secretary VD Rajagopalan on April 30, seeking the ministry's intervention. Srivastava informed that the state's move to levy a benefit-sharing levy may be emulated by other coal-rich states.
A top CIL official said, "We want the issue to be settled early through talks... If the issue doesn't get resolved, then we may have to move court." CIL is dependent on Madhya Pradesh for producing 70-80 million tonne of the fuel annually from the mines.
Coal India (CIL) is planning to move court against the Madhya Pradesh government decision defining coal as a biological resource and warning of imposing a benefit-sharing levy on state-run coal companies, which the coal ministry has termed as "double taxation."
On January 11, the Madhya Pradesh government's Biodiversity Board served notices to the three CIL subsidiaries — South Eastern Coalfields, Western Coalfields and Northern Coalfields has termed the extraction of coal for commercial purpose without informing it, as a punishable offence, saying that under the Biological Diversity Act 2002 coal has been defined as a biological resource.
The board has also said that the coal mining companies should share profits with stakeholders or biodiversity management committees. The chiefs of the CIL subsidiaries, however, refused to comply with the directive, saying that coal does not fall under the definition of biological resource as indicated in the Act.
In response, the Board's member-secretary said the replies were unacceptable and issued a supplementary notice. Under this provision, the representatives of the companies would have to appear before the Board to justify why no action should be taken against them for allegedly violating the Act. Company representatives appeared on March 20, and placed mine-wise production details along with their reasons for refusing to comply with the Board's directives. They were told to raise the matter with coal ministry, which should follow it up with the environment ministry for necessary clarifications.
Coal secretary Sanjay Kumar Srivastava has written to the environment secretary VD Rajagopalan on April 30, seeking the ministry's intervention. Srivastava informed that the state's move to levy a benefit-sharing levy may be emulated by other coal-rich states.
A top CIL official said, "We want the issue to be settled early through talks... If the issue doesn't get resolved, then we may have to move court." CIL is dependent on Madhya Pradesh for producing 70-80 million tonne of the fuel annually from the mines.
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