New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday granted interim relief to Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. (JSPL) and restrained the central government from allocating two coal blocks to Coal India, for which JSPL had emerged as the successful bidder during a recent auction.

A division bench of Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva directed the Centre to maintain status quo on coal blocks Gare Palma IV/2 and IV/3, and issued notice to the government and asked it to file a response on JSPL's plea by March 26. JSPL approached the court against the government's March 20 decision to cancel the company's winning bids for the two coal blocks in Chhattisgarh.