An earlier House panel on coal under the chairmanship of All India Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee which had also >recommended cancellation of allotment of all blocks where production has not started, feels vidicated by the apex court ruling in the matter, given earlier this week.
The party observed that there is much in common between the court's ruling and the panel's observations.
The panel too had said all coal blocks were distributed in an unauthorized manner and there was no transparency in the process.
"All Coal Block allotted from 1993 onwards were illegal, as there was lack of transparency. Because of such allotments, the Government did not earn a single paisa. All were given free. The conduct of the Screening Committee was not transparent. The Standing Committee had recommended that the coal blocks where production has not yet started, the allotments should be scrapped," said Mr Banerjee.
"I am happy that Supreme Court upheld our thinking," Senior Advocate and Trinamool Chief Whip in Lok Sabha, Kalyan Banerjee, the former Chairman of the standing committee on coal, said reacting to the Supreme Court's verdict on coal block allocation.
