The J&K Government has said that it is considering banning the use of gutkha, pan masala and tobacco products in the state. The views of the Finance Department are being sought as the ban involves huge financial implications.

This has been indicated by the government in its response to a public interest litigation before the J-K High Court which has sought a ban on the manufacture and sale of gutkha and other smokeless tobacco products in the state.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has expressed its dissatisfaction over Punjab Urban Planning and Development authorities' short reply on the issue of depleting groundwater in the state. It has now asked all the respondents to file comprehensive replies.

As the PIL filed by advocate HC Arora came up for resumed hearing before the Division Bench of Chief Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, PUDA submitted a short reply in the court itself.

The Centre has decided to tell the Supreme Court that it is legally empowered to allocate coal blocks and is marshalling facts to make a strong case before it, a senior official said.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the State Forest Department are at loggerheads over plans to cut down trees so that the Bijapur-Gulbarga-Humnabad National Highway 218 can be widened.

Contradicting the NHAI’s claims that the loss of several trees will not adversely affect the environment, the State Forest Department said that cutting down the trees will have a disastrous impact on the flora and fauna of the region.

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.