Bhubaneswar:
The Odisha high Court will hear the cases filed by the miners against the state
government's decision for imposition of stamp duty. The bench consisting of
Chief Justice C.Nagappan and Justice Indrajit Mohanty will hear the case.
As
many as 40 mining lease holders have filed cases praying for abolition of the
stamp duty. The petitioners include Federation of Indian Mineral
Industries(FIMI) ,SAIL, MCL, Odisha Mineral Development Corporation(OMDC),Corp Resourses, Nalco, Jindal Steel and Power,Rungta, Gandhamardan minerals, Penguin
Minerals, Tetra, KJS Aluwalia. Besides,Tata Steel was the first to approach the
Court on last Saturday.
Miners
argue that, at a time when iron ore prices are going southwards and the central
government is planning to increase the mineral royalty to 15% from the exiting
10% imposition of an additional duty in the form of stamp duty would put extra
burden to the extent of Rs. 50 thousand crore on the mining Industry. There are
only 130 iron ore, Manganese, and other mines are operating out of 600 mines
and of these 57 iron ore and Manganese mines are operating under deemed
extension.
Leave a Reply