Justice Shah to visit Odisha on February 22

Justice M B Shah, who heads the illegal mining enquiry commission set up by the central government, will visit Odisha on February 22 to give a chance to the miners and the state government to put across their views on the illegal mining operation in the state.

The commission is expected to submit its report on Odisha after Justice Shah’s visit.

Deepak Mohanty, director of mines, said, “The government had requested the Shah Commission to hear its plea. There is a possibility of the hearing taking place in February but we haven’t got any confirmation yet.”

This will be the second visit of Justice Shah to Odisha. He had led a probe team to the state in December, 2011 and visited several mines in Joda circle. His visit was followed by two trips by his team members led by UV Singh, additional PCCF, Karnataka in October and November, last year.

The panel members had made field visits and scrutinized data regarding mineral lease validity, excavation and other clearances. The commission, whose report about Goa has resulted in mining ban in that state, is likely to submit its Odisha report by April 2013.

Ahead of the submission of the report, many miners of the state had alleged that the Shah panel did not consider their plea. Mining associations such as East Zone Miners’ Association (EZMA) and Federation Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI) had complained that the Commission report will be lopsided since the miners were not given a fair hearing.

“Because they (Shah Commission) are going to give the report, they need to hear the miners,” R L Mohanty, president, EZMA, said.

In their recent visits, the probe panel members had detected some violations of rules regarding clearances, lease area and mandatory output limit. However, the miners had objected that the commission members had relied upon Google Earth images to determine lease boundary and demarcation of forest area and non-forest area, which was faulty.

The miners also argued that since they have paid royalty on minerals raised beyond permissible limits, they are not liable for punishments. Recently, the revision authority of the Union mines ministry has imposed stay order on Odisha government decision to collect about Rs 68,000 crore fine from miners for excess raising of minerals.