The Supreme Court today turned its focus on the role of seven mineral-rich states in the coal scam case, asking them about their involvement in the allocation of coal blocks. It put four questions to the governments of Maharashtra, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
The court was hearing two public interest petitions regarding the coal scam for over two weeks. The bench headed by Justice R M Lodha is examining whether the central government followed any policy at all amid allegations that the allocations were made to a few favourite firms.
The questions on which the response of the states are sought are: how did they understand the allocation policy of the central government, what were their individual roles in the allocations, what were the steps subsequently taken after the allocations in accordance with the provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulations) Act, and the details of the agreements entered into by the state public sector undertakings with private companies on the blocks allocated to them.
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The petitioners, lawyer Manohar Lal Sharma and Common Cause have alleged gross irregularities in the allocations and sought their cancellations as they were made to chosen firms without any criteria for qualifications. Attorney General G E Vahanvati has been valiantly defending the allocations for the past few days.