Orissa to move SC on Posco PL case by month-end

The Orissa government is set to file a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court of India by the end of this month challenging the verdict of the Orissa High Court, which had set aside the recommendation of prospective license (PL) in favour of Posco India.

"A decision to file the SLP in the Supreme Court in the Posco PL case has already been taken and petition should be filed by the end of this month”, a highly placed official source told Business Standard.

It may be noted that in a verdict dated July 14, the Orissa High Court had set aside the recommendation of the state government for allotting PL in favour of Posco India for Khandadhar iron ore mines in Sundergarh district.

As per rule, the SLP should be filed in the Supreme Court within three months of the High Court verdict. “Taking into account the date of receipt of the certified copy of the HC order, 10 to 12 days are left for this deadline”, the official said.

The court verdict had come as a as a dampener for the South Korean steel major which had got a reprieve of late after the finalization of the compensation package for the project affected families at the meeting of the Rehabilitation and Peripheral Development Advisory Committee (RPDAC) held last month.

Disposing of a writ petition of Geomin Minerals and Marketing Ltd, a Bhubaneswar-based company, a two-member division bench of the High Court comprising Justice B P Das and Justice B P Ray had directed the state government to take a fresh decision on the recommendation of PL in favour of Posco, giving preferential right of consideration to the petitioner.

The High Court had directed the state government to conduct a fresh hearing of all the 226 applicants for the Khandadhar mines.

Earlier, in January 2009, the Orissa government had recommended to the Government of India for grant of PL in favour of Posco over an area of 2500 hectares of Khandadhar mines.

Meanwhile, the state government is understood to have put on hold the process of renewal of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Posco India which expired on June 22 this year. The MoU was signed in June 2005 and was valid for a period of five years.

The state government which has already filed its response to the two separate reports of the Meena Gupta panel on the Posco project and requested the Centre to allow work on the Posco project to continue, is awaiting the right signals from the Centre to renew the MoU with Posco India.

"We are keen on renewing the MoU with Posco India but are waiting till a clear picture emerges from the Centre on the Posco project”, said another top official.