In exercise of the powers conferred under sub-clause 4 of clause 3A of the colliery control order, 1945 continued inforce under section 16 of Essential Commodities Act,1955,the following guidelines and the procedure are laid down in supersession of the procedure circulated under cover of Coal Controller's No. CC/con/Gr/policy dated 19-10-79 to be followed with immediate effect by the producing coal companies for declaration of grade of coal to be mined and despatched and also standards and methods to be adopted for sampling and analysis of coal

1.Before commencement of despatch of coal, the grade of coal of the seam should be declared provisionally on the basis of seam sample. In case of virgin seam on the basis of date available from adjoining mines or available borehole date the provisional grade should be declared

2.For provisional grading, ordinally seam samples are to be drawn from at least two different sites and analysed and the prescribed grade certificate,as enclosed as Annexure-1 should be forwarded to the coal controller in terms of items 23 and 24 below.

3.For the purpose of provisional grading,two seam samples excluding pickable bands of 10 cm, and above are to be drawn and analysed as per BIS specifications

4.The sampling sites shall be as far apart as practicable, but in any case, not less than 13.5 meters apart.

5.In case of declaring the provisional grade of seam, which had enjoyed a grade in the past but subsequently withdrawn, the previous grade or its equivalent may be declared as provisional grade

6.While declaring a provisional grade, the owner, agent or the manager should furnish following information to the coal controller

        i) Number of samples tested and the dates of drawal of samples.

        ii) Place/places from where samples were drawn(enclose a site plan showing the places of sampling)

        iii) Seam -section of full thickness and the working thickness.Nature and thickness of bands in the seam,clearly mentioning therein whether the band is included or excluded.

        iv) Particulars of laboratory /laboratories where samples were tested.

        v) Copies of test results issued by the laboratories duly countersigned by the Agent/Manager of the colliery.

7.In case of a virgin seam, determination of class i.e.whether the coal is coking or non-coking may be assessed provisionally on the class prevailing in the adjoining or a nearby mine if the seam is being worked there.In case the coal is found to be coking or semicoking the owner,agent or manager shall apply to the Central Government through the coal controller for final classification of the seam giving particulars of the class and grade of the seam in the said adjoining/nearby mine

8.In case of a virgin seam in an unexplored area having no mine in the vicinity, the expected class of coal as per analytical date of borehole for other such samples may be provisionally taken as the class for the purpose of declaring the grade.If the seam is expected to be coking or semi-coking ,the owner,agent,manager shall apply to the Central Government through the coal controller with detailed justification for final classification of the seam.

9.The application for fixation of the class i.e, whether the coal is coking or semi_coking in case of a virgin seam should be submitted as early as possible but in any case not later than 60(sixty) days from the date of declaration of the provisional grade.

10.After the commencement of despatch on the strength of provisional grade but within a period of six months, the final grade should be declared in replacement of the provisional grade.

11.The final grade of coal is to be declared on the basis of loading samples to be drawn from wagons/trucks on at least 3 different dates spaced at intervals of at least 10 days and taking the majority result of samples ,the final grade should be fixed and declared and the prescribed grade certificate should be forwarded to the coal controller

12.If the owner,agent or manager intends to revise the existing (final) grade of a seam or section of seam,he shall not less than 45 days before such revision,give notice of his intention to the coal controller in writing indicating the results of loading samples drawn on at least 6 different dates spaced at an interval or at least 10 days in a span of 3 months justify the results of the joint samples during the preceding 3 months shall be the basis of revision of grade .The results of such samples should be forwarded to the coal controller in support of the intention for revision

13.In case of final revision of grade on the basis of wagon samples, the following information was to be furnished to the coal controller:

        Name of the colliery and mine.

        Name of the seam and section of seam.

        Dates of sampling.

        The wagon numbers.

        Size of coal.

        Name/Names of consingee/consignees.

        The destination/destinations.

        Particulars of laboratory /laboratories where samples were tested.

        Copies of test results issued by the laboratory/laboratories duly countersigned by the Agent/Manager.

14.After expiry of 45 days from the day of receipt of the notice in the office of coal controller, the owner, agent or manager may declare the revised grade in the same manner as followed in case of final grade, unless the revision of the grade is objected to by the coal controller within the period stating the reasons for such objection.

15.In case where seam is re-opened after a temporary discontinuance, the previous grade prevailing at the time of discontinuance may be restored but when the period of discontinuance exceeds six months, the previous grade may be declared as a provisional grade which should be made final within six months from the date of re-opening in accordance with the procedure as laid down under item 10 above.

16.The seam shall ordinally be graded only in respect of the working thickness in case of under-ground development working.

17.In case of depillaring and opencast mining, the total working thickness of the seam and/or seams involved should be graded.

18.The grade declaration should be in respect of a seam or section of a seam and not in respect of any pit or incline or quary.

19.The owner agent or manager may declare the combined grade for a number of seams if the production from those seams are despatched as mixed loading. In case of combined grade, the grade certificate should indicate the analysis of coal of each seam in the combined loading

20.Where two are more grades of coal are stacked in and loaded from the same depot, a proper fool-proof separation arrangement should be provided so as to eliminate the chances of any intentional or inadvertent admixture of different grades of coal.

21.a) The owner, agent or manager shall permanently display the declared grade list on a notice -board at the office of the manager showing the grades of all the seams and sections of seams mined in the colliery.Further ,complete grade list of all the seams mined in the colliery.Further ,complete grade list of all the seams and sections of seams of all collieries belonging to the coal company should be maintained ,so as to be accessible by all concerned at the offices of the managing director,area general manager and all sales offices

b). Siding some arrangement

c). If two or more grades of coal are loaded from one siding separate boards for each grade of coal shall be erected displaying daily the source of coal i.e. mine, seam and grade of coal.

22.The owner, agent or manager shall maintain a register showing the following particulars of all seams, worked in the mine:

      a) Analytical results of each sample (both seam and wagon).

      b) Declared grade.

      c) Date of declaration.

      d) Serial number of grade certificate.

      e) Section of seam graded showing details of bands,

      f) Particulars of each band such as their thickness, nature i.e.hard or friable, whether pickable or not and whether included or excluded in the seam sample

This register should be preserved and maintained upto date in the colliery office and should be made available to the officers of the coal controller wherever required

23.Whenever any declaration of grade, whether provisional or final or revision is made, a grade certificate, serially numbered, in the prescribed form, as attached, should be forwarded to the coal controller within 3 days from date of declaration

24.All grade certificates should be issued and all declarations of grades should be made under the signature of CMD of the concerned company or a competent officer duly authorised by the Chairman-cum Managing Director of the respective Coal Company for the purposes.

25.The grades of coal to be mined and despatched during the financial year should be declared every year before the commencement of the financial year. Proposal for the purpose from the Owner/Agent/Manager duly supported by relevant analytical data shall be submitted to the Coal Controller at least 45 days in advance for approval. The final grade list should be forwarded to be coal controller before the commencement of each financial year

26.Any addition, deletion or revision of grade that may take place subsequently during the year shall be done as per the procedure laid down in clause 12

27.While referring any dispute by a coal consumer arising out of a declaration of the grade for a decision to the coal controller under sub-clause 5 of clause 3A of the colliery control order, 1945,full analytical data of coal and such other information which is considered relevant by the coal controller should be furnished to the coal controller.

28.Disputes only in respect of correctness of declaration of grade and size of coal of seam or section of a seam will be admitted by the coal controller, but no dispute in respect of commercial aspects in respect of a particular consignment will be entertained.

29.The decision of the coal controller in the matter of disputes about grades under sub_clause 5 of clause 3A of the colliery control order,1945 is final and binding on the coal company

30.On receipt of the decision from the coal controller the coal company shall forthwith revise the grade which shall be made effective from the date as directed by the coal controller and a revised declaration in accordance with decision should be issued immediately.

31.For drawing seam samples the owner, agent or manager of a colliery shall prepare sampling sites in accordance with the provisions in item 9.1 of Bis specification No.is:436(Pt.1)-1964 Methods of sampling of COAL AND COKE-pt.1 SAMPLING OF COAL(revised)

32.For the purpose of drawing wagon samples, standards and procedure as laid down by the coal controller and as enclosed as annexure II shall be followed

33.Where samples of coal are required to be drawn from belt conveyor or other means of transport, provisions in the relevant BIS specification may be followed with modifications prescribed by coal controller as detailed in Annexure-II.

34.For the purpose of analysis of samples,the following BIS standards shall be followed

      a) Method Of Test For Coal & Coke Part-I- Proximate Analysis (2nd Revision) IS:1350(Part1)-1984.

      b) Method Of Test For Coal & Coke: Ultimate Analysis

            i). IS:1350(part11)-1970-Determination Of Calorific Value(2nd revision with amendment).

            ii). IS:1350(part111-1969-Determination Of Sulphur.

            iii).IS:1350(part IV/Gec.1)-1974-Determination Of Carbon & Hydrogen.

            iv).IS:1350(part IV?sec.2)-1975-Determination Of Nitrogen

      c).IS: 1353-1993 Methods Of Test For Coal Carbonisation -Caking Index,Swelling No.And Gray King Assay(L.T).

      d)Method of petrographic analysis of coal IS:9127((PART I ,II&III)1992

      e) Recommendation of alteration of prescribed grade should be submitted by officer on special duty with full specification of source and coal along with detailed analysis report.It has to be appreciated that quality has direct relation with cost and extreme care has to be taken by sampling officer so that correct grade is reflected