Acting upon the directive of the Supreme Court in a case of rampant unlawful mining in Odisha, the state government has dispatched the first set of revised demand notices to the defaulting miners. The notices are meant to extract the value of excess production of iron ore and manganese ore lifted beyond what was approved under the mandated environment clearance (EC).
“We have issued the notices to the miners as per the directive of the Supreme Court order. More notices are in the offing- they are concerned with ore illegally extracted in violation of Forest (Conservation) Act and those that violate the limits set by IBM approved mining plan and consent to operate awarded by the State Pollution Control Board. The subsequent notices would be dispatched shortly”, said Prafulla Mallick, Odisha’s steel & mines minister.
The fresh demand notices have been given to 152 mining firms. The figure for penalty is as calculated by the apex court appointed central empowered committee (CEC). The committee had pegged the notional value of overproduced ore at Rs 17576.17 crore. The court has also directed the ore excavated illegally in violation of Forest (Conservation) Act and beyond the limits approved set in the mining plan prepared by Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) and consent to operate awarded by the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB).
In its order dated August 2, the Supreme Court (SC) called for recovery of 100 per cent compensation in lieu of the excess ore lifted.
Disposing off a writ petition filed by Common Cause in a case of rampant illegal mining in Odisha, the apex court ruled that there can be no compromise on the quantum of compensation that should be recovered from any defaulting lessee – it should be 100 per cent. The CEC had advocated recovery of 30 per cent of the cost of production as compensation.
The exact compensation to be paid by mining companies is yet to be extrapolated. The state government is working on the figure which industry sources estimate at around Rs 25,000 crore. According to the CEC report, miners illegally extracted 215.5 million tonnes of iron and manganese ore in Odisha between 2000-01 and 2010-11.
It is not clear how the mining companies would respond to the notices, directing them to shell the compensation amount. The Eastern Zone Mining Association (EZMA) has earlier dropped adequate hints that miners would not hesitate to file a review petition in the Supreme Court. Their contention- since they have paid royalty and taxes and also incurred transportation expenses, even the amount arrived at by the CEC could be rationalized. Miners were awaiting the revised demand notices from the state government to contest them in the apex court.
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