1.
The eligibility to do coal mining in the country
has been laid down in the provisions in Section
3 (3) of the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act,
1973. The parties eligible to do coal mining
in India without the restriction of captive
consumption are:-
(a) The Central Government, a Government company
(including a State Government company), a Corporation
owned, managed and controlled by the Central
Government.
(b) A person to whom a sub-lease has been granted
by the above mentioned Government, company or
corporation having a coal mining lease, subject
to the conditions that the coal reserves covered
by the sub-lease are in isolated small pockets
or are not sufficient for scientific and economic
development in a coordinated manner and that
the coal produced by the sub-lessee will not
be required to be transported by rail.
2. As per the provisions in Section 3 (3) (a)
(iii) of the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act,
1973, a company engaged in the following activities
can do coal mining in India only for captive
consumption:-

production
of iron and steel

generation
of power

washing
of coal obtained from a mine, or

such
other end use as the Central Government may,
by notification, specify.
2.1 Under the powers vested with the Central
Government by virtue of Section 3 (3)(a) (iii)(4)
of the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973,
a Gazette Notification was issued on 15.3.96
to provide cement production as an approved
end-use for the purpose of captive mining of
coal. Therefore, the cement producing companies
are now eligible for undertaking coal mining
for captive consumption.
2.2 In addition to Coal India Limited (CIL)
and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL)
, the following companies are also doing coal
mining in India now:-

Tata
Iron & Steel Company Limited (a captive coal
mining company in the private sector)

Damodar
Valley Corporation (a captive coal mining company
in the public sector)

Indian
Iron & Steel Company Limited (a captive coal
mining company in the public sector)

Bihar
State Mineral Development Corporation Limited
(a non-captive coal mining company, a Government
company under the control of Government of Bihar)

Jammu
& Kashmir Minerals Limited (a non-captive coal
mining company, a Government company under
the control of Government of J&K)

Bengal
Emta Coal Mines Limited (a captive coal mining
company in the private sector)

Jindal
Steel and Power Limited (a captive coal mining
company in the private sector)
3. Special dispensations provided for setting
up of associated coal companies by the end -user
parties offered captive coal blocks.
Any of the companies engaged in any of the approved
end-uses indicted in paras 2 and 2.1 above can
itself mine coal from a captive coal block.
Some of the private companies who were offered
captive coal blocks expressed their difficulties
to do coal mining in the country on the ground
of lack of experience in coal mining. Keeping
in view the difficulties experienced by such
companies, the Government have now allowed the
following dispensations:-
(a) A company engaged in any of the approved
end-uses can mine coal from a captive block
through an associated coal company formed with
the sole objective of mining coal and supplying
the coal on exclusive basis from the captive
coal block to the end-user company, provided
the end-user company has at least 26% equity
ownership in the associated coal company at
all times.
(b) There can be a holding company with two
subsidiaries i.e. (i) a company engaged in any
of the approved end-uses and (ii) an associated
coal company formed with the sole objective
of mining coal and supplying the coal on exclusive
basis from the captive coal block to the end-user
company, provided the holding company has at
least 26% equity ownership in both the end-user
company and the associated coal company.