NEW DELHI: The government is going all out to ensure that the process to auction coal blocks is watertight and scandal-free so that it does not face embarrassment like predecessors. The government is regularly consulting audit and vigilance experts and informally discussing issues with the Comptroller and Auditor General and Central Vigilance Commission, top accountants and institutes to make the auction process flawless, said officials which knowledge of the matter.

It has also instructed bureaucrats to maintain unprecedented secrecy to avoid any leakage of information to corporate houses and the media. It has clearly spelt out that the Comptroller and Auditor General will scrutinise the activities of the nominated authority to oversee the auction process.Former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Pratiyush Sinha is chairing the committee for valuation of producing coal blocks, licences for which were cancelled by the Supreme Court earlier this year. His committee has also been advised to engage independent valuation and techno-legal experts for the purpose of valuation analysis of 42 coal mines.According to sources, the committee is consulting chartered and cost accountants to determine the value of these producing blocks to fix their base price for the auction. Coal Minister Piyush Goyal himself is a qualified chartered accountant and consultant and knows the requirement of a fair auction process, said a government official. In 2012, CAG estimated a notional loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crore to the government in the allocation of coal blocks since 1993. This sparked an uproar and helped the BJP attack the then ruling Congress party. The BJP is now heading the government."Earlier, coal block allocation process was highly subjective in nature and lacked objectivity. We do not want to leave any loose ends to allow anyone to point fingers at the government," said a senior government official. He said only a handful of the bureaucrats have been given the responsibility to draft the rules of the coal block auction based on the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Ordinance."Unlike before, these bureaucrats are sharing only relevant portions of the proposed rules when it comes to involving juniors. Also, every print out of these notes are being accounted and monitored to prevent leakages that may give an advantage to certain bidder," said the official. The government has formed three committees to estimate coal reserves, their value and other technical parameters, besides a nominated authority under the coal ministry to frame detailed rules for the auction. Their submissions will have to be cleared by the Cabinet.Coal secretary Anil Swarup , who hosted his first media interaction on Wednesday, said he and the joint secretary for coal will share updates regularly but will not speak on behalf of the any of the committees and the Cabinet. "We will try to maintain transparency at all levels through communications with concerned stakeholders," said Swarup, who is aiming to complete allocation and auction of 74 blocks by March 6. At a recent interaction with media, Goyal avoided responding specific queries related to proposed coal block auctions.