The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) on Wednesday welcomed the verdict given by the Supreme Court to cancel all the coal block allocations since 1993 by the government.
Calling the verdict a "slap on the face for the government", CPI-M Central Committee member Nilotpal Basu said, "Not only the UPA government but the NDA government was also involved in this and the SC ruling is a tight slap across their face."
Stating that the allocation of the coal blocks lacked transparency, Basu further said, "The manner in which this very important natural resource was being handed over to crony capitalists and entrepreneurs smacked of lack of transparency and credibility. Therefore it needs to be cancelled and it is very fortunate that the honourable Supreme Court has done exactly that."
Basu also called coal an important natural resource and called for its production to remain with the government. He said, "Natural resources are not owned by the government. They are owned by the community and the people at large. Coal is an important resource and its management should remain in the public sector."
CPI-M politburo member Brinda Karat added, "In this judgement, the point made by the Supreme Court that coal is national wealth and the main purpose of the distribution of coal must be for public interest which is what has been violated by the government through its corrupt means. Therefore, the lesson also to be learnt is that not only does the process have to be extremely transparent, but along with that, this main issue is that national wealth cannot be handed over for private profit."
Earlier, a landmark judgement saw the apex court scrap the allocation of 214 out of the 218 coal blocks made since 1993.