High Court stays Odisha Govt Resolution on Mines Auction

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha High court has stayed the Odisha government decision on competitive auction of non-Coal mines. A division bench comprising of Justice Indrajit Mohanty and B.K.Patel has issued a notice to the state government asking to file counter in the next hearing which will be held on 4th February.

The Odisha government on 5^th of this month has come up with a resolution to auction all the non-coal mines through competitive auction except the captive mines and the mines held by PSUs.

However, some miners including MESCO, Aryan Mining and Trading Corporation, Kalinga Mining Corporation, OM minerals and Odisha Manganese and Minerals have moved to the High Court challenging this decision citing that the state government does not have the legislative and executive powers to auctions mines under the MMDR(amendment) act.

Meanwhile, the Odisha government has decided to raise objections to the mining auction ordinance issued by the central government at a Jan 19 meeting being held to discuss on implementation of the ordinance.

While the state government has decided to auction the mines, the ordinance has extended validity of mining leases by five years and 15 years for non-captive and captive uses respectively.

List of 18 Mines closed under second deemed renewal in Odisha