Transfer of extra coal from R-Power's Sasan to Chitrangi plants: Tata says MoC's "stringent" condition has no teeth

Still battling on against the proposed diversion of 9 MTPA coal from Reliance Power's Sasan UMPP-linked Moher, Moher Amlori Extension and Chhatrasal coal blocks to the Chitrangi power plant, Tata Power has now submitted a rejoinder to the Supreme Court, stating that even the so-called stringent condition attached to that special dispensation, granted by the coal ministry, is meaningless.

•  Tata Power has complained that the condition imposed on Reliance Power , that the power generated from the excess coal should only be sold through "tariff based competitive bidding" is, in fact, misleading.
•  According to Tata Power, coal, being a scarce resource, and considering the fact that only the union coal ministry has the power to grant access to it, any market player, like Reliance, that has been given unfair access to and rights over huge quantities of any scarece resource would, obviously, have a huge advantage and market power in any "competitive bidding" scenario.
•  If a large amount of coal is made available to Reliance and then the company is, then, asked to quote a price for selling power from a plant utilizing the coal, a company will obviously charge a premium for the scarce resource available with it, over and above its actual costs and an acceptable profit. 
•  Exactly this has happened, according to TPL, in this instance, as the home state of, both, the Sasan and Chitrangi plants-- Madhya Pradesh -- will draw 1,500 MW of power from the Sasan UMPP at a tariff of Rs 1.19 per unit, while it will pay Rs 2.45, more than double of that, for buying 1,241 MW of power from the Chitrangi plant.
•  Our readers would recall that the coal ministry, under a special dispensation, had approved Reliance Power`s request to divert surplus coal from the Sasan UMPP to the Chitrangi plant. 
•  The dispensation allowed to Reliance Power was a marked departure from existing norms, given the fact that any surplus coal generated from such blocks, currently, remains under the control of Central Government, which can then dispose off the same through the public sector coal major-- Coal India Limited.