The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court's decision to quash allocation of 214 of 218 coal blocks allotted between 1993 and 2010.
"The Bharatiya Janata Party welcomes the decision, which has been given by the Supreme Court. And it only vindicates the stand of the Bharatiya Janata Party. We have been on the roads, we have been struggling and we have been fighting for the coal blocks scam which the UPA was responsible for," BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra Patra told ANI here.
"And today our stand has been vindicated; even the highest court of the country has cancelled the allocation. It only proves that what we were demanding was right," he said.
The government also said Supreme Court's decision to cancel the allocation of 214 coal blocks was in accordance with its stand and will enable it to make a 'fresh start'.
"Basically, the judgement is in accord with the Government of India's stand in affidavit," Law and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said here.
"The government has already taken a position (on the issue) that we will be happy if all (blocks) are cancelled so that we can make a fresh start except for those which are (with) government companies and some other pressing needs," he told reporters.
The apex court pronounced its verdict this afternoon on coal blocks in which government claimed that Rs two lakh crore investments have been made. The apex court, however, granted a breather of six months to companies whose blocks were cancelled to wind up business. The Supreme Court also directed that the companies will have to pay the loss as compensation for the non-operation of the mines.
The coal blocks allocated to SAIL and NTPC and two for Ultra Mega Power Projects are saved from being quashed. According to reports, the apex court has accepted the CAG's estimate that there was loss of 295 rupees per mega tonne due to the non-operation of the mines. The 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 had earlier on August 25 held that all coal blocks allocations since 1993 by various regimes at the Centre have been made illegally and arbitrarily.
With inputs from ANI and PTI
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