SC refuses ministry plea to club all coal allocation cases
04 Feb 2015
The Narendra Modi government suffered a setback on Tuesday as the Supreme Court dismissed its plea to stop private firms from challenging the validity of certain provisions of the controversial 2014 Coal Ordinance in various high courts, and get all these cases transferred to the SC.
A bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu also refused to stay an order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court allowing BLA Power Ltd to take part in the auction process for allocation of coal mines in the state.
"We are not saying anything on the merits of the [particular] case. It is a debatable issue (whether BLA Power is related to prior coal block allottee BLA Industries). We are at the stage of an interim order. Moreover, you did not file any counter / reply affidavit before the high court," the bench said while dismissing the petitions filed by the ministry of coal.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court had on 29 January allowed BLA Power Ltd to take part in the process of auctioning of two coal mines - Gotitoria (East) and Gotitoria (West) mine in Mahapani coalfields of Madhya Pradesh. BLA Industries, a sister concern of BLA Power Ltd, was allocated these coal blocks in Madhya Pradesh in June 1996, which got cancelled following an earlier Supreme Court verdict.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for coal ministry, had earlier argued that Jindal Power and Steel, BLA Power and Sova Ispat Ltd have filed five separate petitions in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Calcutta High Courts respectively.
"The questions of law that arise in the pending petitions are similar and are substantial questions challenging the validity of The Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Ordinance, 2014 and the validity of the provisions of Standard Tender Document for auction of coal blocks being held in pursuance of the judgment dated August 25, 2014 and order dated September 24, 2014 of this Court...," he said and sought their transfer to the apex court.
However, the bench after an hour-long hearing declined to accede to the government's plea.
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