The Supreme Court on Friday directed that the e-auction of 37 coal blocks including five in Jharkhand proposed on November 9, will be subject to its final order.

The court gave this direction while hearing a petition filed by Jharkhand government against commercial coal mining in Jharkhand.  Jharkhand government had stated that ahead of mining a fair assessment of social and environmental impact of commercial mining on tribal population, its life and culture and forest must be done.

The order was passed by the bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian. The court also asked the central government to inform the bidders that benefits of any nature to them will be provisional in nature and subject to orders of the Supreme Court.

Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the Centre assured the court that the environment will be protected and no tree will be cut in mining.

In its previous hearing held on November 4, the Supreme Court had observed that the court is of the view that any proposed mining within the 50 km radius of an eco-sensitive zone must not be e-auctioned for commercial purposes in Jharkhand.

The court had said that it wanted to ensure that forest is protected, adding the court is mulling to set-up an expert committee to examine whether an area near the proposed mining sites in Jharkhand is an eco-sensitive zone. The court had also considered the names of M K Jiwarajka and Dhananjay Mohan (both former Indian Forest Service officials) as members of the expert committee.