Bhubaneswar
:
In a major relief to the mining community, the Odisha High Court on Tuesday
put an interim stay on the Odisha Government order for collection of stamp duty
from the miners operating under deemed renewal.
The
high court bench comprising of Chief Justice C.Nagappan and Justice Indrajit
Mohanti put interim stay on the May 9 and July 3 notification of the Odisha
government after hearing the miner’s arguments. On May 9 the Odisha government
had notified the Indian Stamp (Odisha Amendment) Act 2013 and in July 3
notification the Odisha steel and Mines department has asked the district
collectors to collect stamp duty or take steps to close down mining operation.
As many as 37
miners including Tata Steel, SAIL, Rungta, Jindal and mining lobbey group FIMI
have gone to the Court requesting for cancellation of the act. On behalf of
Tata Steel senior counsel Gopala Subramanyam and on behalf of SAIL Jagannath
Pattnaik present their cases. On the other hand on behalf of state government
senior Advocate Ashok Mohanty defended the government’s decision before the
bench.
The Odisha
government has notified the amended act on 9th of May and with implementation of this amended
Act, the government will be able to get stamp duty from the mines being
operated under deemed extension. The Government expects to mop up additional
revenue of about Rs 1,000 crore annually from the mining sector with
enforcement of the Act. Through the amendment in the Act, the state government
has provided for levying 15 per cent stamp duty on mining leases in future as
well as for preceding period from the mines operating under the deemed
extension.
The newly
inserted section 3 (A) says that on every instrument of grant or renewal of a
mining lease, the stamp duty chargeable shall be equivalent to 15 per cent of
the amount of average royalty that would accrue out of the highest annual
extraction of minerals permitted under the approved mining plan multiplied by
the period of such mining lease.
After the July 3rd notification the state steel and mines
department has sent demand notice amounting Rs.20,920 crore to 51 miners in 7
mining circles.
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