The Centre has told the Supreme Court that Ashok Chawla committee report on distribution of natural resources for commercial exploitation has suggested market-related process and it does not mean only auction. Filing its reply in response to the apex court query, the Centre said even when the committee has recommended adoption of market-related processes, the same cannot be seen as a recommendation for allocation only by auction.

It further said, 69 out of 81 recommendation of the committee were accepted by the Group of Ministers (GOM) but it was left for the individual ministry to implement it.