After iron ore and manganese lessees, the Odisha government has trained its guns on the non-ferrous miners in the state for extracting cost of illegally produced ore.
Sources at the Odisha mines department say the demand notices would be dispatched to such lessees in a phased manner. The state government has taken the call after getting a favorable legal view.
Total compensation for all the defaulting non-ferrous mines is worked out at nearly Rs 27,000 crore. The figure includes Rs 22,000 crore for coal mining and the balance Rs 5,000 crore in respect of chromite, bauxite, limestone and other miners.
Coal India arm Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) is saddled with a penalty of Rs 20,169 crore. The coal miner is likely to contest the Odisha government’s decision after getting the demand notice. Apart from MCL, GMR Energy and Aditya Birla Group controlled Hindalco Industries are also facing compensation burden.
In the list of chrome ore miners, Tata Steel and Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys Ltd (IMFA) are the key contributors to excess production.
An Odisha government officer said if the iron and manganese ore miners can be penalized, other leaseholders cannot walk out free.
But, the demand notices could spark a legal battle between the miners and the state government, feel industry observers. A ferro-chrome producer believes the notices would not stand the law as the Supreme Court’s direction was clearly for iron ore and manganese mines and other leaseholders have not been made parties to the case.
An attempt by the Jharkhand government to extract cost of illegally mined coal has come unstuck so far. The notices served by that government on two CIL subsidiaries have been stayed by a local court.
The state government’s move to extract compensation for illegal production is on the premise of the Supreme Court order (of August 2, 2017) in the case of illegal mining in Odisha filed by NGO Common Cause. The top court had asked for recovery of 100 per cent compensation from the erring miners.
Earlier, 131 iron and manganese lease holders in the state have been slapped with demand notices amounting to Rs 17576.16 crore for environment clearance violations. The figure for penalty is as calculated by the apex court appointed central empowered committee (CEC).
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