SC questions government’s power to allocate coal blocks

25 Jan 2013 Evaluate

The Supreme Court on January 24 questioned the government’s power to allocate coal blocks to companies, saying it has a lot of ‘legal explanation’ to do, because the statutory Act empowers only the states to undertake this task. While, hearing a PIL filed by advocate M L Sharma and various members of civil society, seeking a SIT probe into the coal block allocation scam, the apex court said that the Centre cannot undermine the MMDR Act, which has given no power to it to allocate coal block to companies.

A bench of Justices RM 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.

Though the centre allocates the blocks and mining leases, which are approved by the concerned states, must be complied with the condition of Coal Mines Act and Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act (MMDR) 1957. The Supreme Court added that the comprehensive amendments to the MMDR Act are under Parliament's consideration. Further it also said that the licensing and leasing powers are vested with the states.

© 2026 The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. MoneyWorks4Me ® is a registered trademark of The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd.

×