As SC defers order on cancellation of all or reprieve for some, Govt puts the ball in SC court
The Supreme Court (SC ) on Tuesday reserved orders on the decision whether to cancel the entire lot of 218 illegal coal blocks or allow exemption to certain blocks which are operational. At the end of a hearing that lasted almost four hours, the Bench examined suggestions put forth by the petitioners, NGO Centre for PIl and advocate Ml Sharma along with the Centre, State Governments and various associations of coal miners.
Keeping the option of cancelling all blocks, the Bench, headed by Chief Justice RM lodha observed: “Once we have held that the blocks are illegally allotted, cancellation is the logical course to be adopted.” Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi reiterated the stand of the Centre that it was open to cancelling all blocks, as demanded by petitioners with the exception to save at least those blocks where mining was operational, subject to conditions imposed on their continuation.
The proceedings in the court bordered on the possibility of cancelling all allocations as the Bench indicated to the AG: “Assume all the blocks are cancelled, we want to know how the operational mines will be taken over.” The Bench, also comprising Justices Madan lokur and Kurian Joseph, asked Rohatgi to point out the areas of concern where orders were needed.
Rohatgi said that the blocks will be re-auctioned. However, the land on which the end user plant is situated will remain with the company. “If the lessee is willing to sell the land, the Government will be willing to take over the land,” the AG said, suggesting that as a way out, the functional mines could be permitted to operate for some time before closing down.
On a closer look at the set of 40 operational blocks and six that neared operation which the Centre wished to save, the court discovered that 18 were allotted to Government companies. Advocate Prashant Bhushan pointed out that most of the blocks allotted to the Government sector were joint venture projects where the majority holder was the private company who sold majority of the mined coal in open market for profits.
The AG objected to the allegation but when the SC did a reality check among the list of 18, it found that barring two blocks, all were joint ventures. Under the Coal Mining (Nationalization) Act, State companies cannot be permitted to enter into joint ventures for commercial mining.
Bhushan requested the SC to cancel all coal blocks with exception to none and hand over the operational blocks to Coal India limited that earns Rs 40,000-crore profit annually. Mining associations who were represented by senior lawyers Harish Salve, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Rajeev Dhavan argued that the exception carved by the Centre required to be expanded and in any case, before a coal block allocation is scrapped, a committee of experts must examine each case to recommend whether cancellation was made out.
However, the Bench argued: “The Government has taken a policy decision that because of a wrongdoing a rightful course must be adopted. The Government understands about the economy, investment, and darkness bound to be created after the cancellation. It has its eyes wide open to see all consequences that will follow. We need not give them spectacles to see as they are competent to take a view.”
Without indicating a time-frame, the Bench reserved orders after hearing all parties. In any event, the decision is expected before September 26, as the CJI is due to retire on that day.