SC order on illegal mining in Odisha likely today

The Supreme Court is expected to give its ruling regarding illegal mining activities in Odisha tomorrow as the court appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) has submitted its status report, following consultation with state government officials.

The apex court will see whether the miners have legal authority to run their activities under the deemed extension clause of Mineral Concession Rule (MCR) even after the expiry of lease or not.

While hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by an NGO named Common Cause, the Supreme Court last week had directed the CEC to submit a status report of all operating mines in Odisha along with their availability of statutory clearances

The NGO had sought to ban mining in the state as reported by Justice M B Shah Commission, based on non-availability of statutory clearances.

Admitting the plea, the SC wanted to know the status of mines that are running under the deemed extension clause.

In Odisha about 57 mines are currently operating under this clause. The clause allows miners to run their operation even after the expiry of lease period, if they have applied for renewal of sufficiently ahead of the date of expiry of the lease and if the same has not been expedited by the state or Central government.

As per the current practices, first renewal is granted for a period of 20 years, and then subsequent renewals are granted. While giving its judgement in a case relating to iron ore mining in Goa, the court had said that all mining activities under the deemed extension clause after the end of first renewal period of 20 years are illegal.

In Odisha, at present, about 10 mines are operating under second renewal, 12 under third renewal and two under fourth renewal applications. The SC ruling in these mines assume significance as these mines belong to several large mining players.

However, since Supreme Court observation in Goa was based on 20 year period from 1987 to 2007, the same period should be used for Odisha case too, argued advocate Pinaki Mishra. “If we take the SC ruling strictly as it is, then 99 per cent of Odisha mines do not come under this category. Barring a few, no miners operated under the deemed extension clause continuously for a period of 20 years starting 1987,” said Mishra.

In its latest submission to CEC, the state government has said there is no illegal mining in the state and all operating mines have all statutory clearances.