| Top court seeks explanation on coal allocation |
NEW DELHI The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a government’s plea not to hear a petition on alleged irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks and sought an explanation whether guidelines were flouted in allotments.
The court, which turned down the federal government’s contention that the petition based on the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report which is under the scrutiny of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) cannot be considered, said “the petitioner has sought to point out illegality and there is nothing wrong in it.”
A bench comprising justices RM Lodha and AR Dave said the prayer seeking a direction for alleged “unconstitutional” and “arbitrary” allocation of coal blocks “requires explanation from the government because it is not the distribution of state’s property in small scale but it talks about tonnes of largesse.”
Further, the bench questioned as why the names of politicians and their relatives have cropped up among the alleged illegal allotees of coal blocks in which the policy of “competitive bidding” formulated by the government in 2004 was not followed.
The bench rejected Solicitor-General Rohinton Nariman’s contention that the petition based on the CAG report was “premature” as the PAC headed by BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi was slated to examine it from September 20 about the correctness of allocation.
“Nevertheless, keeping in view the CAG is a constitutional functionary and whether its report is final or not, it has a value. And here the petitioner has sought to bring point to show illegality and there is nothing wrong. Least are we concerned with the correctness of report which will be examined by the PAC or Parliament. But we can rely on CAG report,” the bench said adding that “these are different exercises before the court and PAC.”
“There is a difference in the exercise done by the PAC. Parliament and PAC can proceed with the issue on the basis of the CAG report. We don’t want to encroach upon their exercise but the petition raises different things altogether. There are sufficient averments which require explanation from you,” the court said.
Issuing the notice to the federal government, the bench also made it clear that it is confining itself only to the aspect of guidelines formulated by the federal government for allocation of coal blocks and directed the secretary, ministry of coal, file a detailed affidavit within eight weeks on the guidelines and policies followed on the subject of allocation of coal blocks.
The court passed the order while hearing a petition filed by advocate ML Sharma on the alleged coal blocks scam which has purportedly caused a huge loss to public exchequer.
The bench said the affidavit shall cover the guidelines framed by the government for the allocation of coal blocks.
Agencies
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