11.09.2013, 12.09.2013, 17.09.2013, 18.09.2013, 24.09.

2013,
25.09.2013 and 26.09.2013. On 26.09.2013, Attorney General in
the course of his arguments submitted that allocation letter by the
Central Government was only a first step towards obtaining mining
lease and that, by itself, did not confer any right on the allottee to
work mines. He submitted that at the best, letter of allocation was a
letter of intent and issuance of such allocation letter in no way
impinges the rights of the State Governments under the 1957 Act.
In light of the submissions of the learned Attorney General on
26.09.2013, we wanted to know from the counsel for the petitioners
whether concerned State Governments should be asked to explain
their position in the matter to which Mr. Manohar Lal Sharma,
petitioner-in-person and Mr. Prashant Bhushan agreed and,
accordingly, the Court issued notice to the States of Jharkhand,
Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh and West Bengal as the subject coal blocks, for which the
allocation is in issue, were located in these States.