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Supreme Court Makes Jharkhand Coal Block Auction Provisional And Subject To Orders [Read Order]

Mehal Jain

6 Nov 2020 7:41 PM IST

    • Supreme Court Makes Jharkhand Coal Block Auction Provisional And Subject To Orders [Read Order]

    The Supreme Court on Friday directed that any action in connection with the opening of commercial coal mining in Jharkhand and the coal block auction would be provisional in the sense that the same would be subject to any further orders by the court.The Chief Justice-led bench was hearing the suit by the Jharkhand Government against the launch of the auction process of coal blocks for purposes...

    The Supreme Court on Friday directed that any action in connection with the opening of commercial coal mining in Jharkhand and the coal block auction would be provisional in the sense that the same would be subject to any further orders by the court.

    The Chief Justice-led bench was hearing the suit by the Jharkhand Government against the launch of the auction process of coal blocks for purposes of commercial mining by the Centre.
    "List these matters on 08.12.2020.

    In the meantime, any action in the matter that may be taken by the defendant(s) shall be subject to the orders of this Court. The defendant(s) shall take care to inform any recipient of any benefit of any nature that the action is provisional in the sense that it will be subject to the orders that may be passed by this Court", ordered the Court. 

    It may be noted that the matter had come to be listed today because Attorney General K. K. Venugopal had on Wednesday dissuaded the bench from holding off the auction until such time an expert committee appointed by the Court apprised it of the environmental ramifications of any proposed mining in the area. He had undertaken that he shall himself place all relevant material on record.
    "We don't have time to hear this matter today. You had said that any action on the ground shall commence only after two years, not earlier? So what we propose to do is to pass an order that any action that you take in the meanwhile shall be subject to the orders of the Court in these proceedings", directed CJ S. A. Bobde to the AG on Friday.
    "There will be no cutting of trees in the meanwhile. Cutting of the trees is prohibited", advanced senior advocate Fali S. Nariman, for the Jharkhand government.
    "This seems to be Mr. Nariman's own anxiety and not his client's. Otherwise, trees are being cut everyday", remarked the CJ in good humour.
    "There will be no cutting of trees. No mining activity will commence before two years. The bidders are required to have all permissions first", assured the AG.
    "We will have the matter immediately on reopening", said the CJ.
    At this point, senior advocate A. M. Singhvi, also for the state of Jharkhand, pointed out that the auction is scheduled to be finalised on November 9. "Everything will be subject to our orders", said the CJ.
    "My only concern is that they will say that the money has been paid and various actions have been taken and now it is irreversible. I only request you to use language which conveys a warning, otherwise they will say everything is full and final", pressed Dr. Singhvi.
    "Each of these mines is at a distance of 17 to 21 km from the (elephant and other animal corridors)", he reiterated.
    "They are bidding at the highest percentage...3 judges have earlier said mining at 1 km distance may also take place...", argued the AG.
    "We hope that you will inform the recipients of the allocation that everything is provisional", said the CJ.
    "Jharkhand has the highest bids, as compared to anywhere else. 2 have already been auctioned. While others are getting 14-18% shares, the government of Jharkhand is getting 41% of the total revenue! This is a subterfuge on their part, they didn't say anything about the elephant corridor or the eco-sensitive zones in their earlier writ petition? There, they had only spoken of the revenue!", the AG had argued on Wednesday.
    "We are not sure of the stand or the intentions of the state of Jharkhand. But this is not a matter for you or for Jharkhand or against you or against them...Between the governments, our anxiety is that resources are not depleted", the CJ had commented.

    The State of Jharkhand has filed an original suit under Article 131 challenging the Ministry of Coal's decision to auction coal blocks situated in the state for commercial mining.

    Before filing the suit, the State had filed a writ petition challenging the Centre's action for virtual auction process of 41 coal blocks for commercial mining.

    In its suit, the state has claimed that it is "highly inappropriate" for the Centre to conduct auction at this time of COVID-19 pandemic as all the machinery of the state and the Centre are to be enjoined to "alleviate the problems of citizen" caused due to the deadly virus.

    It claimed that the suit has been filed to "assail the unilateral, highhanded, arbitrary and illegal action" of the Centre in launching the auction of commercial coal mining for nine coal blocks situated within the territory of Jharkhand.

    "The defendant (Centre) has announced the impugned auction unilaterally without consultation with the plaintiff (Jharkhand). The plaintiff state is the owner of the mines and minerals situated within the territory of the plaintiff," said the suit, settled by advocates including Jharkhand's Additional Advocate General Tapesh Singh.

    "The meetings of February 2020 are meaningless as they do not take into account the materially changed circumstance arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Renewed consultation with the plaintiff state was indeed required due to COVID-19 pandemic which has brought the nation and the entire globe to a standstill, in a manner never seen before," it said.

    Referring to the purported meetings or consultations held on February 5 and February 23, the suit has claimed that the Centre did not consider the objections raised by the state.

    Referring to the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution, which deals with administration and control of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes, it said that six of the nine coal blocks in Jharkhand - Chakla, Chitarpur, North Dhadu, Rajhara North, Seregarha and Urma Paharitola -- which have been put up for auction fall within the Schedule Fifth areas.

    It said out of the total population of 3,29,88,134 in Jharkhand, a total of 1,60,10,448 resides in the Schedule Areas.

    "The impugned action impinges the rights of the indigenous people of the plaintiff state and will lead to large scale displacement and consequential rehabilitation and re-settlement issues," it said.

    It alleged that the Centre's action is in violation of the environmental norms and will "cause irreparable damage" to the environment, forests and land area of the state.

    The plea said that Jharkhand has a forest cover of 29.4 per cent and the coal blocks put up for auction are situated in forest lands.

    Referring to the situation prevailing due to the pandemic, the suit alleged that auction of coal blocks at this time "will be playing into the hands of the capitalist lobbies at the cost of national interest".

    "The present situation, thus, is not conducive for conducting the auction which is bound to get affected by the falling growth rate and weak economic conditions," it said, adding that the Centre's action of commencing tendering process from June 18 onwards without "proper consultation, coordination" with the state is "unjustified".

    Click here to read/download order




    Tags
    Jharkhand GovtCoal Block AuctionSupreme Court of IndiaSCAG KK VenugopalAbhishek Manu SinghviFali.S.Nariman
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