Shillong, Oct 7: The disappearance of 18.46 lakh metric tonnes of inventoried coal has come under the scanner in the 41st Katakey Interim Report.
The High Court in its August 31, 2026 order noted that no independent inquiry was launched into the massive deficit – the difference between 32,56,715 MT declared by the government before the Supreme Court and 14,10,710.41 MT found in the 2022 aerial survey.
In its September 17 reply, the government said there is no actual deficit. It claimed the gap is due to different assessment methods, besides auction and seizure in the intervening period.
The government said Deputy Commissioners inventoried 32.56 lakh MT in 2019 through physical measurement, while Garuda UAV in its 2022 drone-based photogrammetry survey found 14.10 lakh MT. The company says the volumetric difference between the two methods is 36.12 per cent.
After applying 36.12 per cent, the 2019 figure comes down to about 20.4 lakh MT, the government argued. Prior to the drone survey, 1.50 lakh MT was auctioned in 2021-22 and 4.72 lakh MT was seized between 2015-2022. Together with 14.10 lakh MT found by drone, it totals 20.32 lakh MT, which matches 20.4 lakh MT. Garuda has certified over 90 per cent accuracy, it said.
The Katakey Committee has rejected the contention as not acceptable.
The Committee noted the government on oath told the Supreme Court that 32,56,715 MT of already mined coal was available, with owner names and coordinates. The Supreme Court on July 3, 2019 directed the state as receiver and custodian to hand over the entire quantity to Coal India Limited.
For exact verification, the NGT Committee ordered an aerial survey which found only 14,10,710.41 MT, leaving 18,46,004.59 MT missing.
The Committee said Garuda’s February 2, 2023 letter citing 36.12 per cent variation was never placed before the Committee or Court earlier and was produced for the first time in the September 17, 2026 response, though the issue was flagged in July 2023 meetings in Shillong.
It also said the claim of 4.72 lakh MT seized coal cannot be adjusted as the aerial survey was done with reference to the same coordinates given in the Supreme Court affidavit.
The panel further pointed out that after the drone survey, Deputy Commissioners themselves did physical verification and found 19,54,258.816 MT available out of 32,56,715 MT, as recorded in minutes of December 2, 2022 meeting in Shillong, which still shows a shortage of 13,02,456.184 MT.
Holding that the state was receiver and custodian as per the Supreme Court, the Committee said a detailed enquiry is needed to fix responsibility for the missing coal.
