Coal news and updates

Companies hire ace lawyers for Rs 25 lakh to fight coal mine de-allocation

Captive coal companies have hired top-notch lawyers to fight the government's move to de-allocate mines at a cost of up to Rs 25 lakhs a hearing.

When the matters come up for hearing in various high courts in July, a barrage of senior advocates including Mukul Rohatgi and KK Venugopal will line up against the government.

Industry insiders said while senior advocates charge up to Rs 20 lakhs per appearance, accompanying advocates charge between Rs 4 lakhs and Rs 5 lakhs per hearing. "Normal fee range per hearing is about Rs 5-7 lakhs but if there is an outstation hearing the amount doubles as the company also spends on accommodation of the advocates and their staff.

All companies have hired a minimum of two advocates and some two senior advocates along with junior advocates," a company spokesperson said requesting anonymity.

Senior advocates like Rohatgi, Venugopal, Neeraj Kishan Kaul, Dushyant Dave, Arvind Nigam and A S Chandhiok are handling most coal cases in high courts. Advocates Karan Luthra, Rishi Agarwala, Mahesh Aggarwal and Gaurav Juneja have also been roped in by companies.

"The senior advocates have a face value and they charge for the same. For example, the court stayed central government from revoking bank guarantee and de-allocating coal blocks when senior advocates like Rohatgi, Kual and Chandiok appeared," an advocate in Delhi high court, who didn't want to be named, said.

Of the 218 allotted captive coal blocks, 56 that were allocated to private firms and 22 awarded to state-run companies have been cancelled. Almost all private companies have challenged coalmine de-allocations and bank guarantee forfeiture in high courts like Jharkhand, Jabalpur, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Delhi.

The companies are incurring expenses in high courts despite the fact that a larger verdict is awaited in the Supreme Court, the advocate said.

A Supreme Court verdict on whether the Union government was empowered to allot captive coal blocks is awaited. The court has heard all concerned parties involved in coalmines allocation, including seven states and association of mining companies and has reserved its order.

The high courts will next hear the matters in July, by when the Supreme Court is likely to pronounce its judgment.

While there is a spike in the legal expenses of private companies, the coal ministry has allocated a record Rs 20 lakhs toward legal cases this year.

Source: The Economic Times