Aiming to expedite disposal of applications for renewal of mining leases, the steel & mines department has rejected 135 such applications of a total of 323 applicants.

“We have already rejected 135 applications for mine lease renewal. These applications did not merit renewal as they lacked the necessary statutory clearances. The department is making all efforts to dispose off pending applications in accordance with the directive of the Odisha High Court,” said an official source.

The Supreme Court’s questioning last week of the Centre’s authority to allocate coal blocks during the hearing of a public interest litigation regarding the ‘coalgate’ will have major implications

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday made it clear that CBI cannot evade periodic scrutiny of its probe into Coalgate, querying the agency's reluctance to file a status report and voicing doubts about the legal sanctity of coal block allocations.

The court's remarks on the central bureau of investigation's ongoing probe into massive irregularities in coal block allocations highlighted by the federal auditor came in the wake of one of the petitioners, NGO Common Cause, questioning efficacy of the investigations.

The Supreme Court Thursday questioned the Centre's "authority" and the "very foundation" of its policy to allocate coal blocks, pointing out that its power to allot the mineral prima facie lacked legal sanction and was also "doubtful" in view of the current legal regime.

Putting the Centre in a tight spot for the second time in a week, a bench led by Justice R M Lodha underlined that the Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act did not give any authorisation to the government to decide who should be allocated coal blocks in the states.

The Supreme Court today raised doubts over the Centre’s authority to allocate coal blocks, pointing out that coal was a state resource under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 and as such only the states had the power to execute mining leases.

A Bench comprising Justices RM Lodha and J Chelameswar said that since both the MMDR Act and the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act 1973 had not vested any power with the Centre to allocate coal blocks, it could not have undertaken this exercise.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the Centre's power to allocate coal blocks to firms, saying it has a lot of "legal explanation" to do as the relevant Act in fact empowers only states to undertake this task.

The top court said despite the fact that the Centre had already allocated more than 200 captive coal blocks to public and private sector companies, it is planning to allocate more. While the Centre allocates the blocks, mining leases are being granted by the concerned states, subject to the condition that Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act and and Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act (MMDR)1957 must be complied with.

The Supreme Court on Thursday made it clear to the Centre that it had no power to allocate coal blocks to private companies and sought legal explanation from Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati for making the allotments.

A Bench of Justices R.M. Lodha and J. Chelameswar told the AG that there was absolutely no power given to the Centre under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957. It was vested only with the States.

The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned Centre’s power to allocate coal blocks to companies, saying it has a lot of “legal explanation” to do as the statutory Act empowers only the states to undertake this task.

The apex court said that the Centre cannot undermine the Mines and Minerals Act which has given no power to it to allocate coal block to companies.
A bench of justices R M Lodha and J Chelameswar asked the government to go through other legislations particularly the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, to find out whether it is empowered to allocate the resources.

PANJIM: In a fresh salvo fired at the government by the green lobby, environmentalist Ramesh Gawas has charged that the government’s process of revalidating licences of ore traders is illegal and should be scrapped since the giving of trading licences itself by State government is ultra virus.

The Mines Department, meanwhile, has maintained that trading of ore was completely legal and that the State government was empowered to make rules under Section 23C of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act).