Odisha High Court dismissed review petition on Odisha 50:50 rule by FIMI (Federation of Indian Minerals and Industries)
Odisha High Court dismissed review petition by FIMI , on 50:50 rule in Odisha, which mandates merchant miners to reserve 50% of total production for Odisha based industries. This means, Odisha based merchant miners have to reserve 50% of total production for Odisha based industries.
” Review petition on Odisha 50:50 has been dismissed by Odisha high court. Local miners will continue to reserve 50% of total production for state based industries.” said Mr P.L. Kandoi, president All Odisha Steel Federation (AOSF).
Earlier in Aug’14, steelmakers located outside Odisha i.e. Chattisgarh based Raipur Power and Steels and West Bengal based Mark Steels had filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against Odisha government’s decision of reserving 50% of Iron ore for the state based industries, which was also called valid by Odisha High Court.
In the hearing held on 01 Sep’14, the Apex Court re-directed the case to Odisha High Court justifying that review petition is still pending there for which next hearing was to take place on 12th September.
What is 50:50 Rule in Odisha?
On 5 Dec, 2012, the Odisha Steel & Mines department had issued notification directing all miners to reserve 50% of their monthly Iron ore output for state based industries after captive consumption citing mineral development and other rules contained in the MCR as well as raw material need for local steel companies as the cause for such action.
Many miners had moved to Odisha High Court challenging the legal validity of the notification; terming the restriction of mineral sales a breach of the Constitution.
Hearing on writ petitions filed by AOSF (All Odisha Steel Federation) and FIMI (Federation of Indian Minerals and Industries), the High Court said the government has the right of pre-emption on minerals as mentioned in the section 27 of MCR and hence the notification was legally valid.
Further, High Court asked the state government to form a mechanism, which will define equal supply to state based industries at a fair price.
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