Coal India Ltd (CIL) felt that the Jharkhand government’s demand of around ₹26,132 crore as rent for government land acquired by Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL), a subsidiary of CIL, was “not maintainable”.

In a meeting with Coal India Chairman and Managing Director, Jharkhand Chief Minister, Hemant Soren had asked for immediate payment of ₹56,000 crore outstanding dues in lieu of land allotted to CCL for mining.

Following this, CCL had sought ‘reconciliation’ of the amount of claims.

In response to a clarification sought by the stock exchange following the news report, CIL said that the modality of calculation adopted by the government of Jharkhand (GoJ) to reach the said amount was not maintainable because it included rent, cess and salami for a lease period and was calculated on commercial rate of land.

“The modality of calculation adopted by GoJ to reach the said amount is not maintainable because the calculation included rent, cess and salami for a lease period and calculated on commercial rate of land whereas the land acquired under Section 9 (l) of CBA (A&D) Act, 1957 vests to the Centre free from all encumbrances under Section l0 of CBA (A&D) Act, 1957 and calculation to be made on the basis of decision taken during meeting between Minister of Coal and parliamentary affairs and Chief Minister of Jharkhand on 30.07.2020 to pay compensation for land acquired under CBA Act as per the present circle rate of agricultural land. The revised calculation of the same is awaited from Jharkhand government,” CIL said in a clarification sent to stock exchanges on Wednesday.

Based on a meeting held between Minister of Coal & parliamentary affairs and Chief Minister of Jharkhand in July last year, it had been decided in principle to pay compensation for land acquired under CBA Act as per the present circle rate of agricultural land. Moreover, the compensation would be paid to the State government after joint verification of the land possessed by CCL.

Accordingly, it was decided that State government should constitute a committee with the officials of CIL/CCL to determine the exact quantum of government land possessed by CCL. Around ₹598 crore has been paid as advance against the entitled payment to Jharkhand government till date.

CCL officials have been regularly pursuing with State government basis of calculation of present circle rate of agricultural land and formation of committee to determine the exact quantum of government land possessed by CCL.

“CCL is in regular persuasion with the Government of Jharkhand through various correspondences and meetings for early resolution of the matter. However, till date, no clarification has been received from government to CCL in this respect,” it said.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW