The very basis of the allotment of coal blocks without any competitive bidding process was against the doctrine of trusteeship and the Constitutional mandate under Article 14, advocate Prashant Bhushan told a bench headed by Justice R M Lodha.
Seeking setting aside of the entire allocation of coal blocks to private parties, the lawyer, appearing on behalf of NGO Common Cause, said "the entire process of allotment of coal blocks was non-transparent, unfair and tainted with all kinds of violation of rules and procedures.
The bench, also comprising justices Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph, is hearing final arguments on two separate PILs filed by the NGO and advocate M L Sharma respectively.
Bhushan, in his day-long arguments, also referred to the reports of CAG and the parliamentary committee seeking to drive home his allegations that the corrupt practices were adopted to favour a few "crony capitalists" who are close to the power centre.
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The auctioning policy was not implemented for 8 years and the coal blocks were given in hurry to private players, he said.
"Instead of acting on the categorical stand of the Coal Secretary in favour of competitive bidding, the government delayed its introduction for 8 years till February 2012....
"With the proposed introduction of competitive bidding pending, this led to a huge rush for the coal blocks under the old allotment system, and the government allotted as many as 142 coal blocks between 2004 to 2009, with billions of tonnes of coal," the written submisison submitted by Bhushan said.