The Supreme Court today quashed allocation of 214 of 218 coal blocks alloted between 1993 and 2010 . Coal blocks allocated to SAIL and NTPC and two for UltraMega Power Projects are saved from being quashed. The apex court pronounced its verdict this afternoon on blocks in which government claimed that Rs 2 lakh crore investments have been made.

The court granted six months breathing time to companies whose blocks were cancelled to wind up business. It has directed that the companies will have to pay the loss as compensation for the non-operation of the mines. The court has also accepted CAG's estimate that there was loss of Rs 295 per mega tonne due to the non-operation of the mines. The apex court said, its observations and findings on the issue will have no bearing on the CBI probe into Coalgate.
A bench headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha on August the 25th had held that all coal blocks allocations since 1993 by various regimes at the Centre have been made illegally and arbitrarily.

The decision of the Supreme Court to cancel all the 25 coal block allocations in Odisha has pushed the future of proposed power projects into uncertainty. As many as 32 coal blocks in the state were allocated after 1993 and of these, seven were already cancelled by the Supreme Court in August this year. Industrial analysts feel, the cancellation of 25 more coal blocks will have an adverse impact on the companies aiming to generate power from these units. Only Talabira-1 coal block allocated to Hindalco of the 25 coal blocks is in operational stage. The Odisha government has inked MoU with 28 independent power producers to generate 37,000 MW.

Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma refrained from making a direct comment on the Supreme Court judgement, but said that the apex court’s decision equally applies to allotments made during BJP-led NDA rule.

On the other hand, the BJP today said that the government has to take a call for reallocation of coal blocks in a transparent manner following their cancellation by the Supreme Court. Talking to AIR, party General Secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy said that coal is the basic raw materials for the thermal power industries and shutting down the coal blocks will impact the power generation.