Karnataka cancels 51 Category C mining leases

Govt to take reallot them as directed by the court later

The Karnataka government has cancelled 51 iron ore mining leases in Category C as per the order of the Supreme Court. The government will take further actions to reallot them as directed by the court and the Central Empowered Committee (CEC), chief minister Siddaramaiah said.

“We will follow the Supreme Court order and directions of the CEC on the matter pertaining to reallotment of the cancelled leases,” he told reporters here on Thursday.

The Supreme Court, in its order dated April 18, 2013, had ordered for cancellation of the mining leases of 51 mining companies for carrying out rampant mining illegally outside the lease area. The order had followed the report of the CEC, a body of the Supreme Court, which had categorised 166 mining leases in Karnataka based on the extent of violations of the mining rules. It had classified 45 mining leases under Category A, 72 under Category B and 49 under Category C. Subsequently, the court had ordered for shifting two more mines from Category B to Category C.

Category C mines are classified based on the extent of illegal mining of 10-15 per cent outside the lease areas. The prominent leases in this category are Hothur Traders, Bharat Mines and Minerals, Associated Mining Company, Latha Mining Company, RMML, Trident Minerals, Matha Minerals, S B Minerals and V S Lad & Sons. Prior to the ban on mining in the state, these leases accounted for about 15 million tonnes of iron ore production. The Apex Court had also ordered for reallotment of Category C mines to steel mills for captive consumption through a transparent process. The state government has constituted a committee to finalise the modalities of reallotting these 51 mining leases.

Presently, only 13 mining leases (11 from Category A and two from Category B) have restarted mining in the state. The monitoring committee, constituted by the CEC, sells the ore extracted by these mines to steel mills through e-auctions.

However, the industry expects the reallotment of Category C mines to take a long time as there are no procedures in place on how they will be auctioned. The new MMDR Act does not specify on auctioning of mining leases.

Meanwhile, a large number of Category C lease holders are planning to file a review petition in the Supreme Court seeking a relook at the cancellation of their leases. The aggrieved owners want their cases to be reheard and permission granted to restart mining on a par with Category B miners, after paying penalty.