CAG suspects cartels in coal mine e-auctions

The Comptroller and Auditor General, in a report that is expected to be laid in Parliament on Tuesday, has found that in 11 out of 29 coal mines successfully e-auctioned in two lots, a number of qualified bidders were from the same company or were from joint ventures. As a result, the CAG could “not be completely assured” that the potential level of competition was achieved.

The CAG criticised the monitoring of the e-auctioning of coal mines and the computation process that resulted in under-estimation of up-front amounts, floor prices and revised fixed rates of the auctioned coal blocks. A primary aim of the audit — covering coal block allocations from May 2015 onwards — was to find out whether cartelisation had taken place and whether fair practices were adhered to.