Commercial coal auction: SC to have final say on who gets Jharkhand mines
The Supreme Court on Friday said the allocation of coal blocks for commercial mining would be subject to its directions. Senior government officials said the court’s order would impact only the mines in Jharkhand, five of which have been offered in the current round of auction.
The interim order comes at a time when the Centre has already awarded 17 out of the 19 mines on offer. “Any subsequent order of licence, lease etc shall be provisional for now, subject to final orders of the court,” a PTI report said quoting the order.
The matter pertains to the case filed by the Jharkhand government against the Centre’s move to auction mining rights for commercial sale of coal. The Centre amended the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015, in May in order to enable coal mining for non-captive use.
