# Coal Ministry reforms overruled internal criticism, documents show 2026-08-15T07:10:39+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet The Union Coal Ministry amended rules in late 2025 to let mining company boards approve the opening of mines and seams, removing prior permission from the Coal Controller’s Organisation. It also replaced a government-appointed expert committee that vetted Geological Reports with a system allowing private Accredited Prospecting Agencies to approve reports prepared by other agencies. Frontline reports that internal officials warned the new system could allow underreporting of coal reserves and hurt public revenue. Minutes reviewed by the magazine record errors in reports prepared for Adani and Vedanta group companies, including an underreported resource estimate for the Barra coal block. Companies from the Adani, Tata and C.K. Birla groups benefited from the changes, which the ministry said would shorten approval timelines. ## Coverage - frontline.thehindu.com Tags: Adani Group, C.K. Birla Group, Ministry of Coal, Tata group, Vedanta Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/coal-ministry-reforms-overruled-internal-criticism-documents-show/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/coal-ministry-reforms-overruled-internal-criticism-documents-show/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.