Within a month’s time, two top IAS officers posted at the Mines Ministry have been transferred. Secretary Sushil Kumar and Additional Secretary K Rajeswara Rao have been transferred at a time when the ministry is finalising the important amendment to the Mines & Minerals Development Regulation (MMDR) Act 2015.

The amendment to MMDR Act will help free up more than 500 mines, which was announced by the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, under the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat initiative. It is noteworthy that a similar exit was seen in the Ministry of Coal before finalizing terms of commercial coal mining.

People in the know have told CNBC-TV18 that a difference of opinion within the ministry on amendments have led to these changes at the top. The Mines Ministry is proposing to amend the sections 10A(2b) and (2c) under the MMDR Act to free up over 500 mines for auction. The idea is to double contribution from mining activities to the GDP as well as employment. Even as some section of the industry is opposed to the idea as foreign investors are worried about their investments and policy uncertainties.

The changes in the top order of the bureaucracy in the ministry have come within 27 days, as on June 27 Additional Secretary of Ministry of Mines K Rajeswara Rao was suddenly transferred to NITI Aayog. Today, Ministry of Mines Secretary Sushil Kumar, an IAS of 1987 batches was transferred to National Commission for Scheduled caste as Secretary.

A similar change was seen in the Ministry of Coal in 2019 when Secretary Sumanta Chaudhuri was moved out without any posting for months for opposing major relaxations suggested by NITI Aayog and Prime Minister's Office for commercial coal auction. The opening of the coal sector for commercial mining by the private sector saw a huge delay due to delayed decision making.

There are some who believe the delay in decision making by bureaucrats is also prompted by corruption charges filed against the former coal secretary HC Gupta in the coal block allocation case.

First Published:Jul 24, 2020 7:11 PM IST