The Supreme Court has slammed the Centre’s Narendra Modi government for unlawfully levying penalties on BLA Industries Private Limited after wrongly including the company in the list of illegal allottees. The Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana also imposed a penalty of Rs. 1 lakh on the central government for its lapses.
The Bench, which also included Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli, termed the government’s error as ‘callous, careless and casual.’ The government’s wrong decision had led to the cancellation of a coal mining lease that was lawfully granted to BLA Industries.
The Supreme Court, according to the Bar and Bench website, held that BLA Industries had lawfully followed the correct procedures by approaching the state government first seeking to obtain a mining lease. BLA Industries, the court said, was granted in accordance with the Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act).
The central government had wrongly included BLA Industries in the list of 46 coal blocks submitted before the top court. Taking a dim view of the government’s error, the Supre Court said, “As a result of this callous, careless and casual approach of the respondent no. 1 – UOI, the present petitioner had to suffer loss and ignominy. Therefore, litigation costs quantified at ₹1 lakh shall be paid by the respondent No.1 – UOI to the petitioner within four weeks.”
The inclusion of BLA Industries in the list of 46 coal blocks had resulted in the cancellation of the company’s mining lease by the Supreme Court in 2014.
The government had filed a contempt petition against BLA Industries for the non-payment of the levy. The Supreme Court dismiised the contempt petition calling it ‘meritless.’
The court, according to Financial Express, said, “…we are constrained to make certain observations regarding the conduct of the Union of India (coal ministry). Here is a case where a private party followed all the rules and the law, as applicable, before investing large sums of money to undertake business.
“In fact, it appears that it was the Union of India that did not follow the letter of the law. But ultimately, it was the private party that had to suffer the consequences of the careless and callous approach of the UoI.”
The government lawyer, Balbir Singh, had argued that the decision to impose a levy on BLA Industries was justified since the process of allocation of coal blocks was found to be fundamentally flawed by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court rejected this argument.
The court said in its order, “Before parting with this matter, we are constrained to make certain observations regarding the conduct of the respondent no. 1 – UOI. Here is a case where a private party followed all the rules and the law, as applicable, before investing large sums of
money to undertake business. In fact, it appears from the facts of the case that it was the respondent no. 1 – UOI that did not follow the letter of the law.
“But ultimately, it was the private party that had to suffer the consequences of the careless and callous approach of the respondent no. 1 – UOI. To compound the petitioner’s woes, the respondent no. 1 – UOI filed an affidavit before this Court including the petitioner in the
list of errant mine owners, based on its own unlawful conduct. It did not undertake the necessary due diligence to determine as to whether the petitioner had been allotted the mine through the lawful procedure. As a result of this callous, careless and casual approach of the respondent no. 1 – UOI, the present petitioner had to suffer loss and ignominy.”
