JSW may approach court on coal block cancellation

JSW Steel, the largest private-sector steel producer in India may take recourse to legal measures against the government over its recent decision to cancel allotment of a coal block to the company. The block, Gourangdih ABC located in Raniganj coalfield in West Bengal, was to feed JSW's captive power plant linked to a mega 10,000MT per annum steel plant in the state.

Joint managing director Seshgiri Rao said after receiving a formal notification of de-allocation, the company would take the matter either to the courts or directly with the government.

He added, the company had taken effective steps in development of the mine and implementation of the end-use plant.

JSW Steel, led by industrialist Sajjan Jindal, had announced its plans for spending Rs35,000 crore on the setting up of a mega steel plant in 2007, and in the first phase it wanted to spend Rs16,000 crore to set up 3 MTPA of steel making capacity. The project involved setting up a 1,600 MW captive power plant, which was to source coal from the block.

According to Rao, JSW Steel had been ''committed'' to the development of the project, including the block. The block's allotment had been cancelled last month as the company failed to meet critical milestones for its development, including green clearances and land acquisition.

The Gourangdih ABC block had been allocated jointly to JSW Steel and Himachal EMTA in 2009.