Naveen approves e-auction of minerals

The e-auction of minerals likely to begin in 1-2 months

E-auction of key bulk minerals like iron ore, chrome ore and manganese is expected to begin in Odisha in 1-2 months with the chief minister Naveen Patnaik giving in-principle approval for the process.

"The chief minister has already given his in-principle approval to start e-auction. In 1-2 months, we expect to roll out e-auction," said director (mines) Deepak Mohanty.

Asked if the approval of the Supreme Court (SC) appointed central empowered committee (CEC) was needed to start e-auction, he said, "As such the permission of CEC is not needed to roll out e-auction. But since the CEC had suggested to go for the process, we will be taking their approval. If the CEC gives its approval, the e-auction process cannot be challenged since it is a SC appointed committee."

Though the government has not estimated revenue generation from e-auction, sale of iron ore alone through the electronic route was set to fetch additional revenue of Rs 400 crore for the government annually.

The state steel & mines department has missed its target to roll out e-auction from April 1 this year. The e-auction services were to be provided by Kolkata-based MSTC Ltd. Discussions with all stakeholders are through on introducing e-auction.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was to be signed between the state government and MSTC for rolling out e-auction services.

The MoU would outline the roles, responsibilities, scope of work and remuneration for MSTC. A suitable government order will be issued, making e-auction compulsory from a certain date for sale of iron ore, manganese ore and chrome ore.

The state government, through, a recent notification, had stated that a decision has been taken for introduction of sale of iron ore, manganese ore and chrome ore by all lessees and licensees in order to bring transparency and improvement in the existing system as well as to generate more revenues. MSTC would set up its office in Bhubaneswar for coordination and execution of e-auction related work. All users of e-auction will have to register with the MSTC website either as buyer or seller. Registration of buyers and sellers will be a continuous process. Users from the Odisha government will be provided with a master password for monitoring purpose.

The sellers would forward the list of material with all details to MSTC in soft copy for creating online auction catalogue. The details would include the reserve price to be fixed by the seller. The reserve price would be the start price for the e-auction.