The government is trying to rectifying things by cancelling coal blocks allocations, but the move is also an admission that the process of allocations was wrong, an expert says.

Pralay Kanungo, head of Jawaharlal Nehru University's Centre for Political Studies, said that the move of cancelling the coal blocks was an unspoken admission of the government's faulty natural resources allocation policy.

Speaking on the topic, Kanungo said, "This move of cancelling four blocks shows they are rectifying things, but it is also an admission that the process was wrong."

Last Thursday, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal cancelled four coal blocks, including Field Mining & Ispat of Maharashtra, Castron Mining of West Bengal, Domco Smokeless Fuels of Jharkhand. The blocks were cancelled after the Inter Ministerial Group (IMG) recommended de-allocation of the blocks.

On Friday, the IMG recommended de-allocation of the Gournagdih coal block that was allotted to the Delhi-based JSW (Jindal Steel Works) Group and Himachal EMTA Power Ltd.

The coal block allocations came under scrutiny after national auditor Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) of India said in its report that arbitrary allocation of fifty-seven coal blocks to private companies robbed the exchequer of estimated revenue of Rs. 1.86 lakh crore.