Odisha: IDCOL, Essel Clear Dues, May Resume Operations Soon – Sources

1. Out of five mines which defaulted penalties set by Supreme Court, two have made the payment

2. Next hearing on 9th Feb 2018

3.Serajuddin and MESCO have not cleared their dues yet

The Supreme Court conducted hearing on Odisha illegal iron ore mining today i.e. 30 Jan’18. Out of five iron ore working mines that were asked to shut down operations, two among them have made the payment. As per market sources report to SteelMint, Essel Mining and IDCOL have submitted the penalty amount in the Apex Court. The Apex court condoned the delay and granted IDCOL permission to operate the mines subject to payment of 12% interest for 11 days.

In case of Essel Mining further direction from the Apex Court is still awaited and ten days time has been granted for verification of EC and FC clearances. The next hearing for the same is scheduled on 09 Feb’18 in Supreme Court.

However Serajuddin Mines, MESCO have yet not been able to submit the penalties. Serajuddin Mines is Odisha’s 2nd largest merchant miner with annual production of 10 MnT pa. SteelMint tried calling company officials at Serajuddin Mines but calls remained unanswered.

The Court has also directed that government can take ‘coercive action’ against leases who didn’t pay compensation.

Earlier, on 02 Aug’17 the Supreme Court of India issued a judgment on illegal iron ore mining case in the state of Odisha. In a common cause notice issued to Odisha based merchant miners; they were alleged of excess production beyond the granted EC (Environmental Clearance) limits. In its order, the Supreme Court (SC) called for the recovery of 100% compensation in lieu of the excess ore lifted to be submitted 31 Dec’17.

State government managed to collect Rs 8235 crore of penalty by the stipulated deadline. Five working iron ore mines MESCO Steel, Serajuddin & Company, government-owned IDCOL, Essel Mining, Korp Resources and National Enterprises in Odisha have gone out of operations as they failed to pay out the penalties by the fixed deadline. These mines have the capacity to produce 20 MnT iron ore annually and accounted for production of around 15 MnT pa.