Both the firms owe Coal India and its parent Coal Ministry a debt of INR90bn ($1.6bn). Further the company is facing strike threats from the workers to protest against the sale.
The development comes after Department of Divestment (DoD) had secured approval from Inter-ministerial Group (IMG) for the stake sale that is expected to raise nearly $3bn.
A Coal Ministry official was quoted by The Economic Times as saying that the ministry has expressed its objection after DoD asked for its views on the stake sale.
However, the ministry has advised the department to hold the divestment plans till the power utilities clear the debt and labor issues are resolved.
Meanwhile, NTPC had refused to repay nearly INR10bn ($181.1bn) attributable to CIL’s subsidiary Eastern Coalfields (ECL) claiming that the quality of coal supplied was inferior.
In his letter to Power Secretary P Uma Shankar, Coal Secretary S K Srivastava has said that the disputes are likely to be settled within the terms of fuel supply agreement (FSA).
