India Supreme Court Holds Off on Coal Block Decision

Reuters reported that a hearing on illegal coal licenses in India ended on Tuesday with the Supreme Court stating it would reserve judgement for a later date. In August, the court found India’s method of granting coal licenses to be illegal, putting hundreds of coal blocks in limbo and threatening India’s already precarious supply.

As quoted in the publication:

India is suffering from an acute shortage of coal, which fuels about three-fifths of its power needs, and has had to turn to costly imports to meet rapidly growing demand.

The government’s top lawyer, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the court on Tuesday that if coal block allocations are cancelled, the government was ready to re-auction the blocks.

Rohatgi also said that if all blocks are cancelled, state giant Coal India (COAL.NS) should be allowed to take over active mines, or companies be allowed to continue production until the blocks are re-auctioned, in order to avoid supply disruptions.

Click here to read the full Reuters article.