State may cancel mining licenses under scanner

Faced with a barrage of criticism over the multi million crore mining scam and wary of the storm to be raised over it by the Opposition in the ensuing Assembly session scheduled to commence on June 22, the state government is likely to cancel the mining licenses of Ram Bahadur Thakur Ltd (RBTL) and Arjun Ladha Company Ltd (ALCL).Both RBTL and ALCL were allegedly carrying out illegal mining operations on reserved forest land without the requisite clearance of the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF).

These two companies were accused of involvement in the mining scam which had led to stiff protests from the Opposition parties and caught the state government in a tight spot.

“The state government is likely to cancel the mining licenses of RBTL and ALCL based on available evidence. We know that the Opposition is going to corner us on the issue of mining scam in the ensuing Assembly session. Hence, the licenses are likely to be cancelled before the Assembly session kicks off”, a highly placed official source told Business Standard.

There are 245 cases of renewal of mining licenses in the state and notices have already been issued to these companies to furnish the necessary documents for renewal. It may be noted that the operations of as many as 163 mines were suspended in the state in the wake of the mining scam.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court of India started hearing on a case relating to loot of mineral resources in Orissa. A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan had asked the Orissa government to file its response within six weeks before further hearing is taken up.

The order was passed by the apex court after the state government had informed that it had received the report of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC). The state government had also informed the Supreme Court that it would implement most of the recommendations of CEC.

It may be noted that the CEC submitted its interim report to the Supreme Court on April 26, 2010 with a set of recommendations pertaining to illegal mining activities in Orissa.

The CEC had suggested that the Renewal Mining Lease (RML) cases, which are pending with the state government for a long time, should be disposed of expeditiously in a time bound manner. Deemed extension clauses should only be used in contingency situation and can’t be availed indefinitely.

It also suggested that the mining in non-forest areas can be allowed only after obtaining the environmental and other statutory clearances by the lease holders.