Coal scam: SC to decide on cancellation of blocks today

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Sep 01, 2014: The Supreme Court will decide today whether to cancel the coal blocks that were allocated by the screening committee between 1993 and 2010, a move which it had termed as unfair and illegal.

In its ealier decision on August 25, the apex court had ruled the 218 coal blocks that were allocated between 1993 and 2010 by the screening committee as illegal as they were not fair and transparent and suffered from vice of arbitrariness.

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, however, stopped short of deallocating the blocks and fixed September 1 to decide the consequences of the illegality of the coal blocks.

Moreover, the bench also ruled that no objective criteria was followed and guidelines were breached in the coal block allocation, adding that all allocations were done in illegal manner and that it suffers from vice of arbitrariness.

About the hearing on Monday, the bench in its 163-page judgement had said, "As we have already found that the allocations made, both under the Screening Committee route and the Government dispensation route, are arbitrary and illegal, what should be the consequences, is the issue which remains to be tackled. We are of the view that, to this limited extent, the matter requires further hearing.”

Reacting to the Supreme Court’s ruling, Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said he respects the apex court’s decision and that the nation should accept the final verdict.

’I am happy that the honourable Supreme Court announced its judgement on the coal block allocations scam. I respect it,’ the minister had said.

Calling on the nation to accept the final verdict of the apex court, Goyal said he was looking forward to the finality of the coal block allocations judgement on September 1. He also said the government was ready to act quickly once the final decisions were taken by the court in the case
 

Courtesy:NDTV