INDIA’S attorney general asked the supreme court today to let production go ahead at 46 of the 218 coal mines declared illegal by judges last week.

Mukul Rohatgi said production was already under way in 40 of the mines and was near starting in the other six.

The government also suggested that the court impose an additional royalty of 295 rupees (£2.89) a metric ton for coal that has already been mined.

The top court ruled last week that all permits issued since 1993, when monopoly miner Coal India Ltd was broken up, had been illegal and arbitrary, leading to an “unfair distribution of national wealth.”

The statement sent led to soaring speculation on shares in the big companies that hold coal block concessions.

The award of more than 200 coal blocks to steel, cement and power companies has been at the centre of the so-called “Coalgate” scandal, estimated in a 2012 audit report to have cost the country as much as £20 billion.