Centre to SC: Coal block allocation could have been done in better manner

The Central Government told the Supreme Court on Thursday that the coal blocks allocation could have been done in a more refined manner.

Media reports quoted Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati as telling a three-judge bench of the apex court that was headed by Justice R.M. Lodha, that the Centre had taken previous decisions in good faith, but something turned out to be wrong.

Vahanvati's response came after the Supreme Court bench observed that the exercise could have been done in a far better manner.

The bench had asked Vahanvati about the government's stand on the de-allocation of certain coal blocks, and the former replied that the government would make its stand clear on the issue next week.

The attorney general had, in September last year, submitted that coal blocks allocation was merely a letter of intent and does not confer any right to the companies over the natural resource which is decided by the state government.

He had contended that decision of coal blocks allocation to companies is only the first stage and firms get rights over coal only when they start mining for which they have to take various clearances.

The mining states of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, however, had earlier told the apex court that coal blocks allocation was entirely controlled and regulated by the Centre and they only played a minimal role in the whole exercise.