SC refuses to stay coal allotments
20 Nov 2012 6:42 AM IST
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay licenses of companies which were allotted coal blocks. Hearing a Public Interest Litigation on the issue of a court-monitored Special Investigation Team probe into the alleged irregularities in the allotment of coal blocks to various private parties, the court issued notices to the central government and the CBI.
A bench of Justice RM Lodha and Justice AR Dave asked the government and the CBI to file comprehensive replies on the alleged irregularities in the coal block allocation within eight weeks. However, it refused to stay the licenses as prayed for in the petition and posted the matter for further hearing on 24 January.
The court had earlier sought a reply from the government on various allotment issues while hearing another PIL, filed by advocate ML Sharma on the issue, and it tagged both the petitions. The court on Monday was hearing the PIL which has been filed by NGO Common Cause and six prominent citizens, including former cabinet secretary TSR Subramanian and former chief election commissioner N Gopalaswami.
The PIL has prayed from the court for cancellation of the entire allocation of coal blocks to private companies between the year 1993-2012 and a thorough court-monitored investigation into the said allocation by the CBI or a SIT. The petition has alleged the allotment of coal blocks was non-transparent and was conducted in an unfair manner in violation of various rules and procedures.
The petition has said the investigation of the CBI at the instance of the Central Vigilance Commission is partial and does not cover the full magnitude of the scam.
Earlier, hearing ML Sharma PIL on the same issue, the court had, vide order dated September 14, 2012, directed the Coal Secretary, Government of India to file an affidavit on a few aspects including the details of guidelines framed by the Central Government for allocation of subject coal blocks and the process adopted for allocation of subject coal blocks.
A bench of Justice RM Lodha and Justice AR Dave asked the government and the CBI to file comprehensive replies on the alleged irregularities in the coal block allocation within eight weeks. However, it refused to stay the licenses as prayed for in the petition and posted the matter for further hearing on 24 January.
The court had earlier sought a reply from the government on various allotment issues while hearing another PIL, filed by advocate ML Sharma on the issue, and it tagged both the petitions. The court on Monday was hearing the PIL which has been filed by NGO Common Cause and six prominent citizens, including former cabinet secretary TSR Subramanian and former chief election commissioner N Gopalaswami.
The PIL has prayed from the court for cancellation of the entire allocation of coal blocks to private companies between the year 1993-2012 and a thorough court-monitored investigation into the said allocation by the CBI or a SIT. The petition has alleged the allotment of coal blocks was non-transparent and was conducted in an unfair manner in violation of various rules and procedures.
The petition has said the investigation of the CBI at the instance of the Central Vigilance Commission is partial and does not cover the full magnitude of the scam.
Earlier, hearing ML Sharma PIL on the same issue, the court had, vide order dated September 14, 2012, directed the Coal Secretary, Government of India to file an affidavit on a few aspects including the details of guidelines framed by the Central Government for allocation of subject coal blocks and the process adopted for allocation of subject coal blocks.
Next Story
