A few days after the Supreme Court cancelled the allocation of 214 coal blocks, an application was on Friday filed for fixing of criminal liability on those involved in the allotments from 1993 to 2010.
Moving the application, Adv Manohar Lal Sharma, one of the petitioners, sought an order to fix criminal liability on the persons involved irrespective of their status in the society.
Several ministers during Congress-led UPA and BJP-led NDA and government officials are under scrutiny in this connection.
The application sought quick recovery of the market price of the coal mined by the companies under the MMDR Act. The petitioner also sought for a direction to prohibit and blacklist the companies who are facing criminal prosecution.
Sharma said additional penalty of Rs295 per metric tonne does not cover provisions of MMDR Act. “All allotted coal blocks and mined since 1993 onwards has been declared illegal hence Section 21 of MMDR Act is attracted to recover of material value from the illegal miners,” the plea said.
While canceling allocations of illegal coal blocks, it allowed the allottees who have commenced extraction of coal from the illegally allotted mines a time of six months to make alternative arrangements for coal linkage for their plants.
It also allowed the Centre and Coal India Ltd (CIL) to take back the coal blocks after March 31, 2015.
The court accepted the calculations of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on loss suffered because of illegal allotment of coal blocks and said all those who have extracted coal from these mines would pay Rs 295 per tonne of coal to the government as additional levy.
The application will be taken up by the court after October 8 as the court will remain closed on account of Dusshera holidays.
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