The Supreme Court of India delivered a major jolt to the struggling government by turning down solicitor general’s claim that the Comptroller & Auditor General’s (CAG’s) report on coal block allocations isn’t open for judicial review.

On Friday, solicitor general RF Nariman pleaded with the apex court that the CAG report on controversial coal block allocations wasn’t open for judicial review because Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was already examining it.

But, the apex court turned down solicitor general’s plea and ruled that the CAG is a constitutional body and thus its report could be the basis of an investigation.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court said, “Keep in mind that the CAG has its own value. There is nothing wrong in relying on its report. Parliament and PAC can proceed with the issue on the basis of the CAG report.”

The court said it didn’t want to encroach upon PAC’s exercise but the petition raised various things altogether and there were adequate averments that required explanation from the government.

The Supreme Court gave the central government a time period of two months to respond to a writ petition seeking the cancellation of all the 194 coal blocks that according to the CAG report robbed the exchequer as much as 1.86 lack crore.

The apex court asked whether it was a coincidence that allotments of the coal blocks benefited either politicians or their relatives.