Four coal-bearing States told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that in allocation of coal blocks they had no role to play as they used to meticulously follow what the ‘master’ directed them as a matter of routine in all allocations.
The statement by Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Odisha came in stark contrast to the position presented by the Attorney General GE Vahanvati who had informed the Supreme Court that after States identified blocks, the Centre processed the request through Screening Committee to finally allocate the coal block.
“We have meticulously followed the direction of Centre. We always had a limited role in allocation of coal blocks,” senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for MP and West Bengal, said, arguing against the Centre’s position that states were equally to share the blame for irregularities in allocation of coal blocks.
Odisha government had already made its position clear in its affidavit by slamming the Centre for not giving any role to states in the allocation. The bench of Justices RM lodha, Madan lokur and Kurian Joseph allowed counsels for all seven coal bearing states to open their arguments on December 5, following which it would hear the Attorney General. The remaining states are Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh.
The Court also explored the possibility of engaging a senior advocate as amicus curiae to help them analyze the status reports filed from time to time by CBI probing into coal gate. After substantial arguments, the Court dropped the proposal after it met with serious objection from CBI. For the agency, Senior Advocate Amarendra Saran argued that status reports was shared by the agency only with Court and no outsiders should be allowed to see it as it affected “purity of investigation”.