SC grants status quo on Posco PL case

The Supreme Court of India today granted status quo on the verdict of the Orissa High Court in the case pertaining to the recommendation of prospecting license (PL) over the Khandadhar iron ore mines in Orissa in favour of Posco India.

The matter came up for hearing before the apex court which issued notices to the Government of India, Orissa government and Posco India. A two-member bench of the Supreme Court consisting of Justice R V Raveendran and Justice A K Pattnaik directed to maintain status quo on the matter till further hearing.

"The Supreme Court has granted status quo on the judgement of the Orissa High Court in the Posco PL case”, said Sibashis Mishra, advocate on records, Orissa government.

It may be noted that the Orissa government on October 29, had filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court in this case, challenging the verdict of the Orissa High Court (HC), which had quashed the state government's recommendation of PL in favour of Posco India. Besides the Orissa government, Posco India and Geomin Minerals & Marketing had also filed petitions in the apex court.

The state government, which had recommended the PL in favour of Posco India in Janaurt 2009, had contested the Orissa HC's judgement on special grounds.

It had argued that Posco's proposed mega steel project in Orissa is special as it will make use of Finex technology in steel making. Besides, the project costing Rs 54,000 crore, is the country's single largest FDI.

"Contrary to the Orissa HC's claim that the Khandadhar mine is a non-notified area, the state government, in its appeal in the Supreme Court, has stated that the area has been notified and hence we can dispose applications and recommend PL cases based on merit. Since Posco project is special, the state government gave it a preferential treatment and recommended its case for PL even though there were other applicants prior to Posco”, a top official source had told earlier.

The Orissa HC, in its verdict on July 14, had set aside the recommendation of the state government for providing PL in favour of Posco India over an area of 2500 hectares of Khandadhar iron ore mines in Sundergarh district.

Disposing of a writ petition of Geomin Minerals and Marketing, 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.