The union governemtn representative informed the Supreme Court today that the Chawla Committee had said in its report on distribution of natural resources for commercial exploitation that the a market-related process is the most suitable way to allocate natural resources in the country.

The government said that a market-related process includes many other ways to allocate resources besides auction. The Centre wrote in a reply to a query to the apex court that "even when the committee has recommended adoption of market-related processes, the same cannot be seen as a recommendation for allocation only by auction."

Attorney General GE Vahanvati said on behalf of the government that 69 out of 81 recommendation of the committee were accepted by the Group of Ministers (GoM). Three more recommendations were approved with some changes. The ministers decided to leave the implementation of the recommendations to individual ministries in a timely manner.

The government also presented a note which stated that it has not accepted the recommendations of the Chawla committee on the issue of allocation of natural resources. The apex court had asked for a response from the the government.

Vahanvati had said in response that "Chawla Committee has not recommended auction simplicitor for all natural resources" and the report is still under consideration."