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The Supreme Court, on August 25, 2014 ruled that coal blocks allocated by the government between 1993 and 2010 were illegal. Following is the chronology of events leading to the judgement:
Coal block allocation: chronology of events
July 14, 1992
A number of coal blocks, which were not in the production plan of Coal India Ltd and the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), were identified and a list of 143 blocks were prepared.
1993 to 2010
A total of 70 coal mines or blocks were allocated between 1993 and 2005, 53 in 2006, 52 in 2007, 24 in 2008, 16 in 2009 and one in 2010. In all, 216 blocks were allocated between 1993 and 2010, out of which 24 were taken away at different points in time, effectively leaving the total number of allocated blocks at 194.
March 2012
CAG’s draft report accuses govt of ‘inefficient’ allocation of coal blocks 2004-2009; estimates windfall gains to allottees at Rs 10.7 lakh crore.
May 29, 2012
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offers to give up his public life if found guilty in the scam. May 31, 2012: CVC, based on a complaint of two BJP MPs — Prakash Javadekar and Hansraj Ahir — directs a CBI enquiry.
June 2012
Coal ministry forms an inter-ministerial panel to review the process of allocation of blocks and to decide either on de-allocations or forfeiture of bank guarantees. Since then, the government has taken back about 80 coal fields while bank guarantees in 42 cases have been forfeited.
August 2012
CAG’s final report, tabled in Parliament, tones down loss to exchequer figure to Rs 1.86 lakh crore.
August 25, 2012
Govt claims CAG’s presumptive loss theory flawed, no mining yet.
August 27, 2012
PM says CAG flawed; “The observations of the CAG are clearly disputable”
September 6, 2012
PIL in SC seeks cancellation of 194 coal block allotments. Supreme Court begins monitoring the CBI probe into the coal field allocations.
March 2013
The Apex Court asks CBI not to share probe details with govt.
April 23, 2013
Standing Committee on Coal and Steel, in a report tabled in Parliament, says coal blocks distributed between 1993-2008 done in unauthorized manner. Says allotment of mines where production not started should be cancelled.
April 26, 2013
CBI Director Ranjit Sinha submits affidavit saying investigation report shared with law minister Ashwani Kumar.
May 10, 2013
Ashwani Kumar resigns.
June 11, 2013
CBI registers first information report (FIR) against Naveen Jindal and Dasari Narayana Rao.
October 16, 2013
CBI files an FIR against industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and former coal secretary PC Parakh.
July 2014
The Supreme Court sets up a special CBI court to try all coal field allocation cases.
August, 2014
The CBI decides to close its case against Birla and Parakh.
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