<div>The Supreme Court of India continues to take a stringent view of coal block violations, cancelling close to 200 licences on Monday (25 August), saying the allocations were against public interest.<br /><br />The apex court said the coal block allocations to various companies between 1992 and 2008 were arbitrary and lacked transparency.<br /><br />The allocations, which are being scrutinised by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), were made in a casual manner without a comparative assessment of applicants, the court said.<br /><br />However, it allowed the allocations made to mega power projects to continue on the condition that they must not use the coal for any purpose other than captive consumption.<br /><br />"No objective criteria was followed and guidelines were breached in coal block allocations," said the bench headed by Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha.<br /><br />The fate of these illegal coal blocks remains undecided, with the court announcing it will decide the manner of reassigning mining rights after a series of hearings starting on September 1.<br /><br />One hundred and ninety-four coal blocks were allocated between 1992 and 2008, which the court declared illegal on Monday. The judges said that no guidelines were followed in handing out coal licenses and the 36 different committees made to allocate the blocks acted arbitrarily.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><strong>Read Also: </strong></span><strong><a href="http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/outtoday/wpcrl120.pdf">The SC Order</a><br /><br /></strong>The bench noted that "public good suffered" as a result. In September 2012 the court had first issued a notice on the matter based on a PIL filed by advocate M.L. Sharma, who was later joined by Common Cause NGO and other activists. <br /><br />The petition has led to much drama in the corridors of power, with increased pressure on the CBI to report its findings and progress on the "Coalgate".<br /><br />There have been reports of missing files amid CBI-Government collision and allegations about a lack of independence for the investigation agency.<br /><br /><strong>Govt Ready To Act Quickly</strong><br />Welcoming Supreme Court judgement as ending of uncertainty, Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said the government is ready to act quickly once the court delivers its final view on the coal mines allocation, which it has declared illegal, reports PTI.<br /><br />The government is awaiting Supreme Court to deliver its final view on how the mines "illegally" allocated between 1993 and 2010 should be treated, Goyal told reporters in New Delhi.<br /><br />Later, Goyal went to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.<br /><br />"The fact that this has brought to finality and closure a dispute or problem that has been for many years ... (It is) a big plus for the Indian economy. I think in fact they should have been immensely pleased that the economy can now move forward rapidly rather being cast with the shadow of uncertainty," he said.<br /><br />He said the clarity of law in policy and certainty of future are the "hallmarks of a good economy and will be liked by the investor community", with coal sector poised for progress after being in "limbo" for long.<br /><br />His remarks follow the Supreme Court ruling that all coal block allocations between 1993 and 2010 had been done in an illegal manner by an "ad-hoc and casual" approach "without application of mind".<br /><br /><strong>SC Monitoring CBI Probe</strong><br />The Supreme Court is monitoring the CBI investigation into the coal block allocations, initiated following the Comptroller and Auditor General's report in 2012. The CAG report states that the country has lost close to Rs 2 lakh crores due to the arbitrary allocations spanning three political regimes of the NDA, UPA I and UPA II. The scam took the nation by storm and damaged the UPA’s image as the coal portfolio fell under former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's charge for most of the period under question.<br /><br />Last year the court had issued a show-cause notice to the central government to report the action taken on the CAG report and in January this year, it reserved the verdict on the matter. At that time, the Centre submitted that 40 coal blocks were de-allocated. The court had suggested de-allocation of 29 blocks allotted to private companies as well. But the State representative said that companies had already invested a lot of money and therefore it would be difficult to cancel the licences. The apex court dismissed the claims, stating that investments cannot be reason for not cancelling illegal allocations, reserving the order for August.<br /><br />It said on Monday that illegal coal blocks must be de-allocated. <br /><br />The CBI is investigating the allocations and has so far filed 16 FIRs, where they have some proof of cheating, criminal misconduct and corruption. The FIRs have named some big names like AMR Iron and Steel, JLD Yavatmal Energy, Vini Iron and Steel Udyog, JAS Infrastructure Capital Pvt Ltd, Vikash Metals, Grace Industries, Gagan Sponge, Jindal Steel and Power, Rathi Steel and Power Ltd, Jharkhand Ispat, Green Infrastructure, Kamal Sponge, Pushp Steel, Hindalco, BLA Industries, Castron Technologies and Castron Mining. <br /><br />The CBI has been trying to identify possible collusion between government officials and firms, which led to the irregularities in allocations and pricing of the blocks. It is believed that many firms misrepresented facts in order to appear eligible for coal blocks and more often than not were also given the blocks without any verification of these claims at very low prices. The investigative agency has filed over 15 FIRs in the matter naming project proponents from all spheres of India Inc from Birlas to Jindals. <br /><br />At the same time the CBI has also decided to file a closure report in the coal block allocation scam involving Kumar Mangalam Birla and former Coal Secretary P.C. Parakh after a 10-month probe for lack of evidence.<br /><br />A Jindal Steel Spokesperson said: "We are not in a position to comment as we are currently evaluating the SC Judgement and the implications for JSPL." <br /><br />moyna@businessworld.in<br />mmatbworld@gmail.com<br /> </div>
