Govt Requests SC To Refrain From Cancelling 46 Coal Blocks

Due to the power shortage in the country, the Centre has requested the Supreme Court exempt 46 coal mines that it had pronounced illegal from cancellation as they were either producing or were close to producing power.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said that the government was open to re-auction the coal blocks in case allocations are cancelled.
According to a media report, Rohatgi asked the court not to refer the issue to a committee as “it would further delay coal auctions.”

The Supreme Court had earlier said that all the coal blocks allocated between 1993 and 2011 were illegal. "All allocations were done in an illegal manner and it suffers from vice of arbitrariness," it pronounced.

A bench headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha said that the allocation by the screening committee was not “fair and transparent.”

However, it gave its nod to the continuation of the coal blocks allocations to ultra mega power projects but forbade them from using the coal for any purpose.

According to analysts, large-scale cancellation of coal blocks would further escalate the shortage of coal for power plants.