Supreme Court of India has cancelled allocations of 214 out of 218 coal blocks on Wednesday, which were declared to be illegally allocated, reports NDTV.
The verdict has come as a big blow to India's top private and government companies in key industries – power, steel and cement.
The four coal blocks that were spared are government-run, non joint ventures, two of them in Madhya Pradesh and two in Jharkhand.
These coal blocks were allotted to Coal blocks allocated to PSU-SAIL, NTPC and two for Ultra Mega Power Projects.
The apex court said the government is free to re-auction the cancelled coal mines.
The apex court gave "six months" breathing time to the holders of the 42 coal blocks that are already operational.
However, the companies running these blocks too would have to compensate the government by paying Rs. 295 per metric tonne.
Coal miners and power producers had argued that a huge investment was at stake and the cancelling of allotments should be taken up case by case.
The government had earlier told the court that it wanted the process of "reallocation of the blocks to start as soon as possible".
India is suffering from critically low coal supplies which it needs to fuel power plants. Blackouts are common in the country of 1.2 billion people.
