Supreme court leaves only four blocks from the cancellation order
Six months time for mining companies to wind up their operations in coal blocks
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-09-25 00:43 GMT
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday saved only four blocks out of the 218 coal block alloted since 1993 .The bench, that also comprised Justices Madan B. Lokur and Kurian Joseph, granted six months breathing time to the mining companies to wind up their operations in coal blocks. The Centre maintained that the court’s decision to cancel the allocation of 214 blocks was in accordance with its stand and will enable it to make a “fresh start”. The court also noted the stand by the NDA government that it was “fully prepared to face socio-economic impact” if the coal block allocations were cancelled.
In the earlier hearing, the UPA government had opposed the cancellation of coal blocks, saying '2 lakh crores had been invested by various companies after blocks were allotted to them. The court had on August 25 held that all coal blocks allotted by various governments were made illegally and arbitrarily.
The court, which used almost all terms to condemn the procedures however, had stopped short of cancelling them saying, “what should be the consequences, is the issue which remains to be tackled.”
The SC, which examined the allocation of 218 blocks in pre-auction era till 2010, had held that they were done in an illegal manner by an “ad-hoc and casual” approach “without application of mind” and “public interest have, thus, suffered heavily” due to lack of fair and transparent procedure resulting in “unfair distribution” of the “national wealth”.