Jharkhand High Court today heard a petition of SAIL challenging terms & conditions set by the mines department for Iron ore lease renewal and asked the state to file a counter affidavit by 13 Nov, 2014.
SAIL told the court that the state, in its circular on 22 Oct, 2014 imposed a demand of INR 19.82 billion for mining Iron ore in interim periods between lease expiry and renewal.
The government ordered SAIL to pay the sum for Iron ore excavation from 22 Feb, 2009 to 17 Jul, 2014 and from 18 Jul, 2014 to 31 Aug, 2014 amounting to 8,726,631 MT and 266,445 MT respectively.
In the presence of the state lawyer additional advocate-general Jai Prakash, Maninder Singh, additional solicitor-general of India, argued on behalf of SAIL.
Singh told the court that the state had asked the PSU to pay the money, citing Mines & Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act. He added that according to the state’s terms, once it got cash from SAIL, it would give the company a clearance certificate of mining dues as per Minerals Concession Rules, 1960.
But, a catch remained. The state would also forward a copy of the clearance to the Centre. So, for all intents and purposes, even after paying money to the state, when SAIL would finally begin mining again was anybody’s guess.
Singh also informed the court that the department had said that whenever SAIL’s mining lease would be renewed, the area under its ambit would be 635.98 hectares, shrinking to less than a half of 1,443.756 hectares. The state reasoned that forest clearance for the entire area had not been obtained.
Singh argued that the department was ’arbitrary‘ and ’mala fide’. “The government is imposing conditions that amount to coercion and is illegal,” he said.
The matter first came to court when SAIL challenged the closure of mining activities by the state government in Durgaiburu mines, Gua, West Singhbhum. The state government refused to renew the mining lease for captive mining in Durgaiburu after issuing two letters on 03 & 04 Sep, 2014.
The steel PSU informed the court that the mines were leased to it by the then Bihar government on 22 Feb, 1949 for 30 years. The lease expired in 1979 after which it again went to SAIL for another 30 years. The steel major obeyed norms and applied for renewal on 02 Feb, 2008 – a year before the lease ran out.
The matter will again be heard on 13 Nov, 2014.
Source- The Telegraph
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