-The Hindu The Comptroller and Auditor-General’s report on the allocation of coal blocks, reviews how it took seven-and-half years to move the allocation procedure for captive coal blocks from a discretionary procedure to competitive bidding that was demonstrably transparent. It turns out that the process began within six weeks of UPA-I coming to power in 2004. Ironically, the amendment to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMDR) Act rules for auction...

-The Hindu Forest Bench says statutory clearance is a must   The Forest Bench of the Supreme Court on Friday made it clear that no iron ore mining operations in Karnataka shall be permitted to resume unless there was statutory clearance for mining and till reclamation and rehabilitation was implemented in full. The Bench, comprising Justice Aftab Alam, Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan and Justice Swatanter Kumar, took the decision after the Central Empowered Committee in...

-The Indian Express When the Delhi Development Authority had the sole right to build houses in the capital, it was unable to meet the demand from an expanding population. If private builders stepped in to build where the DDA was not doing so, is it a fair calculation to say that the profit they could make was a loss to the government exchequer? The CAG’s estimate of loss to the government...

-The Times of India Pointing out that the government extended windfall gains of Rs 1.86 lakh crore to private players by distributing coal blocks without bidding over years, the CAG has said, "A part of this financial gain could have accrued to the national exchequer by operationalizing the decision taken years earlier to introduce competitive bidding for allocation of coal blocks. Therefore, audit is of strong opinion that there is a...

-The Hindu Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal has rejected the Comptroller and Auditor-General’s conclusion that coal blocks allocation helped private companies gain Rs. 1.86 lakh crore. Talking to journalists after the report was tabled in Parliament on Friday, he said: “The policy adopted to allocate coal blocks was not faulty. There could not be a more transparent policy for allocation of coal blocks [since 2004 when there was no competitive bidding].” The CAG...