Decide ArcelorMittal's plea for mining lease before Jan 11: HC

The Delhi High Court today asked the Centre to expeditiously decide the application for a mining lease in Jharkhand by Lakshmi Mittal's Luxembourg-based steel manufacturing company ArcelorMittal which intends to set up a 12 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) steel plant in the state.
Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva asked the government to take a decision before January 11, 2017, the last date for executing a mining lease with the state government and listed the company's plea for hearing on January 12.
The court also issued notice to the Centre on the company's plea claiming it was entitled for grant of mining lease under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMDR) Act as it satisfies all the requirements provided under the statute.

According to the company, under section 10(2)(a) of the 2015 Act, once the Centre has communicated previous approval as required under section 5(1) of the Act for grant of a mining lease, or if a letter of intent been issued by the state government to grant a mining lease before the Act was amended in 2015, the mining lease shall be granted subject to fulfilment of the conditions of the previous approval or of the letter of intent within a period of two years from the date of commencement of the said Act.
ArcelorMittal has claimed that the two-year period ends on January 11, 2017.

The court has asked the government to decide the application for mining lease moved by the company before January 11 so that if it is in favour of ArcelorMittal, then the state government can execute the mining lease.