Both captive and non-captive mines to be auctioned separately
Bhubaneswar: In a historic move the Odisha government has decided to allocate all the non-coal mines only through competitive bidding. Both captive and non-captive mines will be auctioned separately and the highest bidder will be get allocation. Only, the mines that are awaiting second and subsequent renewal would be auctioned, but the mines that are awaiting first renewal will not be auctioned.
The decision was taken at the cabinet meeting held today chaired by the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The rule would not be applicable to the mines held by OMC and other PSUs.
Later the Chief Secretary Gokul Chandra Pati briefed the Media Men after the Cabinet Meeting. Principal Secretary Steel & Mines Raj Kumar Sharma was present in the briefing.
This move of the State Government will generate more revenues at least Rs.10,000 crore extra per annum for the state. It will create job opportunities and attract investments for large, medium and small mineral based plants and industries as well as it will facilitate ancillary and downstream investments in the state.
The Supreme Court on 27 September, 2012 on the Presidential Reference made in the matter of 2G Spectrum has opined in favor of Competitive Bidding of natural resources.
“That if the state arrives at the conclusion, in a given situation, that maximum revenue would be earned by auction of the natural resources in question, then that alone would be the process by which have to adopt”, opined the Apex Court.
In the meantime Ministry of Mines has taken the note of pronouncement made by the Supreme Court in Presidential Reference and several other Judgments in its guidelines for processing of mineral concession proposals under the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulations ) (MMDR) Act, 1957.
As per Media Reports, recently the MoM has circulated a note for concerned departments to favor auction by a method of Competitive Bidding. This will be presented in the Union Cabinet, said sources.
This Policy Decision to dispose all major mineral concessions (Prospecting License (PL) and Mining License) (ML) through public auction to the highest bidder for respective category i.e. Captive and non-Captive Users will however not applicable to all the existing leases of the Odisha |Mining Corporation (OMC) and all other State and Central Public Sector Undertakings (PSU)s.
This will not affect those leases that have already been issued grant orders and are awaiting execution of lease deed by the State Government after being approved by the Central Government. In case of the failure to execute the lease deed within the specified period, the grant order shall be liable to be revoked.
Similarly those mining leases that are awaiting the approval of the First Renewal will not be affected.
Most importantly, those mining leases that have already granted Express Orders for renewal under Section 8(3) of the MMDR Act, provided that they execute the lease deed after fulfilling the statutory requirements within the specified time period.
In May last year the State Government had issued Express Orders in favor of 08 mines, which include that of SAIL, Tata Steel and others. Last month the state also issued expressed order in favor of Tata’s Sukinda Chrome mines.
So all other leases of major minerals falling within the ambit of Second or subsequent renewals will be put up for public auction along with virgin areas, determined and lapsed leases, said an official. There are 18 such proposals waiting for second and subsequent renewals, officials confirmed.
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