The Supreme Court on Tuesday warned that it could scrap the entire allocation of coal blocks made during 2006-2009, saying prima facie it appears that the procedure followed by the government to allot the fields for mining was not proper and legal.
The apex court made the remarks after the CBI, in its status report on the probe into the “Coalgate” scam, said the procedure followed by the UPA-I government to allot coal fields was “arbitrary” and “flawed” and that coal blocks were assigned to companies, many of which had misrepresented crucial information, without checking their financial track record and other credentials. The Prime Minister had direct charge of the coal ministry from 2006-2009, the period reviewed by the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
After going through the status report, a three-judge bench headed by Justice R.M. Lodha said, “The procedure the government is talking about prima facie does not seem to be proper and legal. If we broadly find that no procedure was followed, the entire allocation will be scrapped.” The bench directed the government to explain why a small group of companies have been “picked and chosen” for allocation of coal blocks out of the large number of applicant companies.