KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) - The electoral losses in recent provincial elections suffered by the Congress party, which heads the Indian federal government coalition, have cast uncertainties over key mining and mineral sector legislation during the current session of Parliament.

Government officials tracking the passage of legislation relating to these sectors, said that the Congress party's routing in four of the five provinces that went to polls, had seriously jeopardised the bipartisan support required by the government to pass the pending legislative Bills in the winter session of Parliament, which started on December 5 and was expected to continue until December 20, unless extended.

Of the five provinces that went to the polls over the past month, the opposition Hindu nationalist party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was elected in three, while the Congress was elected in one and one resulted in a hung verdict.

The BJP had already communicated to industry and business that they should wait for the national elections next year and not expect the party to support the ruling Congress-led government in legislative business, as the government had lost support, which was evident from the provincial polls.

Some of the key legislation relating to the mines and mineral sector that were expected to fall prey to the political uncertainties included the Coal Mines (Conservation and Development) Amendment Bill 2012, the Mines and Mineral Development and Regulation Bill 2011, Petroleum and Minerals Pipelines (Acquisition of Rights of User in Land) Amendment Bill 2010 and the Coal Regulatory Authority Bill 2013.

According to PRS Legislative Research, an independent body tracking Parliament functioning and providing support services to elected representatives, only one piece of proposed legislation, the Coal Mines (Conservation and Development) Amendment  Bill, has been listed for passage in the current session of Parliament, while the Bill on setting up a coal sector regulator was scheduled for introduction.

Coal Ministry officials said that expectations of setting up the coal sector regulator through an Act of Parliament were unlikely to be realised given the short tenure of the current session and the anticipated filibustering by the opposition.

The Ministry had made setting up the coal sector regulator a prerequisite for the auction of 10 coal blocks for user industries by March 2014, with the Cabinet of Ministers already approving the methodology of the auction rules.