The Centre today told the Supreme Court that the coal blocks allocation could have been done in a more refined manner. Attorney General GE Vahanvati told a three-judge bench, headed by Justice RM Lodha, that the Centre took the decision in good faith but something turned out to be wrong. Vahanvati's response came after the bench observed that the exercise could have been done in a far better manner.

The bench asked the Attorney General about the Centre's stand on de-allocation of certain coal blocks, to which Vahanvati said that the government would make its stand clear on the issue next week.

The Attorney General had, in September last year, submitted that coal blocks allocation was merely a letter of intent and does not confer any right to the companies over the natural resource which is decided by the state government.

He had contended that decision of coal blocks allocation to companies is only the first stage and firms get rights over coal only when they start mining for which they have to take various clearances.

The mining states of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, however, had earlier told the apex court that coal blocks allocation was entirely controlled and regulated by the Centre and they only played a minimal role in the whole exercise.