The Centre has told the Supreme Court that it cannot restrict itself to the auction route in allocating natural resources, which will depend upon the objectives for which they are alienated.

Attorney General GE Vahanvati told a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia that in deciding which method of allocation was appropriate in a given case, one had to ask why the property or entitlement in question was being disposed of in the first place.

The method of allocation will depend on the Government's objectives which will, in turn, depend on the reason for disposing of the asset in question.