Government to move quickly after SC final order on coal mines

New Delhi: Welcoming the Supreme Court judgement on coal mines issue, government on Monday said it will request the apex court to expeditiously resolve the issues to help increase domestic availability and reduce dependence on imports.

The government is awaiting Supreme Court to deliver its final view on how the mines "illegally" allocated between 1993 and 2010 should be treated, Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters.

"The government should request the Supreme Court this way, or whatever way, decide fast...otherwise country will have to continue to import coal from abroad," a senior government functionary said.

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court held that all coal block allocations made since 1993 till 2010 before pre-auction era during previous NDA and UPA regimes have been done in an illegal manner by an "ad-hoc and casual" approach "without application of mind".

The apex court, which examined the allocation of 218 blocks, said, "Common good and public interest have, thus, suffered heavily" as "there was no fair and transparent procedure, all resulting in unfair distribution of the national wealth."

A bench headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha also held that "no State Government or public sector undertakings of the State Governments are eligible for mining coal for commercial use".

The bench also clarified that there was no challenge laid before it for cancellation in respect of blocks where competitive bidding was held for the lowest tariff for power for Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPPs) in accordance with the opinion given in Natural Resources Allocation Reference.

Commenting on the judgement, the official said, the good impact of the ruling will be that arbitrary allocation process would ceased to exist and would be replaced by auction method.