Bhubaneswar:
The Odisha
Government has issued show cause notice to Sarda Mines (pvt) Ltd for violation
of Rule 37 of Mineral Concession Rules 1960 in its Thakurani iron ore mines in
Keonjhar District. The steel and mines department has asked the company
authority to appear before the special secretary, Steel and mines on 21st
of this month for personal hearing.
Presently,
Rule-37 of Mineral Concession Rules debars any lessee to assign, sub-let,
mortgage or in any other manner transfer the mining lease or any right, title
or interest therein without previous written consent of the state government.
Last
year, a five-member committee of the state steel & mines department had
found the lessee guilty of violating Rule-37 of Mineral Concession Rules
(MCR)-1960. The lessee which holds the Thakurani iron ore mines spread over
947.04 hectares in Keonjhar district has been found to sell its entire run of
mine (ROM) produce to JSPL without any agreement.
According
to the committee's report, the major benefit of the mine is flowing to JSPL.
Moreover, the present arrangement of selling ROM to JSPL by Sarada Mines
amounts to transferring the interest in the mining lease to the steel company,
the report added.
The arrangement apart from being in violation of provisions
of Rule-37 of MCR-1960 also contributes to lower value added tax (VAT)
collection by the Odisha government on account of low pricing of ROM in
comparison to the value derived by JSPL from the product vis-a-vis the market
price.
However the company has denied any violation of rule 37 of
the MCR. “We have a long term contract with JSPL and we are selling our entire
ROM to JSPL and that is purely a commercial thing-anybody can do anything,
there is no binding in the lease agreement†said Mr Ashok Kumar Gupta,
President, Sarda Mines.
-Reported by Tapan Moharana
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