New Delhi: 

The central government Monday told the Supreme Court that it stood by the court's verdict holding allocation of coal blocks since 1993 as illegal, and said it was ready to auction the coal blocks if they are cancelled.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, however, urged the apex court bench headed by Chief Justice R.M. Lodha to consider making exceptions in the case of 46 coal mines which are ready for operations and their end-use plants are also in place.

The government opposed the earlier suggestion to set up a committee headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court to go into the consequences of the court's decision holding the allocation of coal blocks as illegal.