https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=279007 The statutory scheme under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 and the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973 did not authorise the Central Government to allocate coal blocks by an administrative process selecting beneficiaries, so the impugned allocation mechanism was outside the enactments. Public auction was recognised as a preferred method for natural resource allocation, but not as a constitutional mandate in every case; legality depended on fairness, transparency and Article 14 compliance. The Screening Committee and Government dispensation routes were found arbitrary, non-transparent and inconsistent with the statutory scheme, so the coal block allocations were held illegal. en-us Mon, 25 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0530 Wed, 28 May 2025 15:57:00 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=279007 The statutory scheme under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 and the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973 did not authorise the Central Government to allocate coal blocks by an administrative process selecting beneficiaries, so the impugned allocation mechanism was outside the enactments. Public auction was recognised as a preferred method for natural resource allocation, but not as a constitutional mandate in every case; legality depended on fairness, transparency and Article 14 compliance. The Screening Committee and Government dispensation routes were found arbitrary, non-transparent and inconsistent with the statutory scheme, so the coal block allocations were held illegal. Case-Laws Indian Laws Mon, 25 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=279007