OMC moves Supreme court for relief on Niyamgiri

Vedanta not to join OMC bid

Contrary to the claims of Orissa steel and mines minister that Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) would follow the state government to file a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the order of the Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) cancelling the Stage-II forest clearance for bauxite mining at Niyamgiri hills, VAL has clarified that it has no locus standii to undertake such a move.

“Legally, we have no role to play on the issue. The mining lease at Niyamgiri belongs to the Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) and we have only an agreement with the corporation for getting bauxite. VAL has no locus standii to file a petition in the Supreme Court as the order of MoEF was against OMC and not VAL”, Mukesh Kumar, president and chief operating officer of VAL told Business Standard.

This has put to rest all speculation on the company filing a petition in the apex court on the issue.

Meanwhile, the OMC on Tuesday has filed a petition in the Supreme Court, contesting the order of MoEF on cancellation of Stage-II forest clearance.

"OMC had complied with all the conditions of MoEF on Stage-I clearance and there was no justification on the part of the ministry to cancel Stage-II forest clearance for bauxite mining at Niyamgiri hills.

After the environment ministry had canceled the Stage-II forest clearance, we had requested the ministry to reconsider the order but we did not get any response even after two months.

Consequently, OMC has filed a petition in the Supreme Court”, Raghunath Mohanty, state minister for industries and steel & mines told media persons here.

He added that VAL would follow OMC’s steps and file a petition in the apex court in this regard soon.

On August 24 last year, the MoEF had rejected the Stage-II forest clearance for bauxite mining at Niyamgiri hills on the recommendations of the four-member Saxena committee.

The MoEF was of the view that mining at Niyamgiri hills would severely impact the wildlife in the area.

The mining operations would involve stripping off more than seven square kms of the Niyamgiri hill top, which would drastically alter the region's water supply, severely affecting both ecological systems and human communities, the MoEF said in its order.

Besides, the ministry held that mining would lead to loss of forest cover, thereby affecting the two tribal groups- Dongaria and Kutia Kondh, heavily dependent on forest produce for their livelihood.