SC notice to Centre on coal block allocations

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre on a public interest suit seeking to quash the allotment of 194 coal blocks to private companies in six states. The government will have to respond to six questions from the court. Solicitor General R F Nariman accepted the notice and the case would be heard after two months.

The court has asked the government to produce the guidelines and the process adopted for the allocation of blocks. It also wants to know if there are any in-built mechanisms to ensure the allocations do not lead to distribution of largesse unfairly to a few private firms.

The government will also state whether the guidelines for the allocation were strictly followed and whether objectives of the policy were realised. Further, the court wants to know what were the hindrances in following the policy of competitive bidding. The government would also have to say what steps were taken or proposed to be taken against allottees not adhering to the terms of allocation.

Manohar Lal Sharma, a Supreme Court lawyer from Mathura, filed the petition invoking the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act for “the protection of public properties in the interest of the general public”. Though he named Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, the Congress president and a host of others, the court confined the notice to the secretary in the coal ministry.

Usha Martin, Bhushan Steel, Reliance Energy, Tata Power and Jindal Steel & Power and ArcelorMittal are among the 57 companies operating in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh named in the petition, which has quoted extensively from the Comptroller and Auditor General report to support its arguments.

The court rejected the objection of the Solicitor General that the petition was premature. He said a Parliamentary committee was looking into the matter. The judges said “this is a different exercise”. The committee could take its own course; the court would not encroach upon it. But there were questions that had to be answered by the government in the court, the judges said.