Acting upon the order of the Supreme Court, the Odisha government has decided to slap fresh demand notices on the mining companies that unlawfully extracted iron and manganese ore beyond the approved limits.
For ore excavated in excess of the limits set under EC (environment clearance), the state government would go strictly by the calculation of the Supreme Court appointed central empowered committee (CEC). The CEC in an exhaustive report on illegal mining in Odisha had extrapolated the penalty figure for miners at INR 17,576.16 crore- INR 17,091.24 crore for iron ore and INR 484.92 crore for manganese ore. CEC in its report on illegal mining in Odisha had advocated for recovery of 30 per cent of the cost of production. The CEC’s calculation is based on benchmark price issued by the IBM instead of the state government’s methodology of determining penalty amount on current market prices for ore extracted even 10 years back. According to the CEC report, miners illegally extracted 215.5 MnT of iron and manganese ore since 2000-01. Compared with the CEC’s calculation, the Odisha government’s figure of INR 58,000 crore seemed exaggerated.
Odisha’s chief secretary Aditya Padhi said, “A reading of para 156 of the Supreme Court order makes it evident that the compensation under EC violation should be as per the cost rationalized by the CEC and we will go by the figure. Beyond this, the Supreme Court has said that excess mining under mining plan approved by the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) and CTO (Consent to Operate) issued by the State Pollution Control Board has to be included. The figure for excess mining under these two heads approximately amounts to INR 2000 crore”.
“The Supreme Court has accepted the valuation of CEC with the caveat that compensation under excess ore raised in violation of mining plan and CTO are factored”, he added.
In addition to excess mining beyond the approved mining plan and CTO, the state government would assess the compensation in lieu of violation of Forest (Conservation) Act.
“Whatever is vetted will be issued to the miners immediately- this can include the compensation under EC limits violation. Rest of the notices would be sent in 10 days after assessment of the figure”, Padhi said.
Following the Supreme Court order, a clutch of miners – both captive and non-captive have to cough up the penalty as a result of this order. Mining companies in dock include Tata Steel, Essel Mining & Industries Ltd, Indrani Patnaik, Rungta Mines, Serajuddin & Company and even state run entities like Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC). Mining companies need to pay the compensation latest by December 31 this year.
On August 2 this year, the apex court disposing off a writ petition filed by Common Cause in a case of illegal mining in Odisha had directed recovery of 100 per cent compensation for excess ore extracted.
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