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The Odisha government buying time to clear mine lease renewal files has taken its toll on the miners.
Miners working under the provisions of 'deemed extension' were in for a shock when the Supreme Court (SC) in an interim order on Friday called for suspending operations till their leases are renewed. The order will apply to 26 mines in the state awaiting second and subsequent renewal. And the timeline stipulated by the top court for the state government to clear pending renewal applications is six months.
Industry watchers said the ball is now in the court of the state government.
"As the SC order says, the state government now has to take steps to expedite the lease renewal applications of mines facing suspension. It remains to be seen how promptly the state government responds," said RK Sharma, secretary general, Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (Fimi).
But given the state government's own record of inordinately slow processing of mine renewal files, it remains unlikely that the cases of these 26 leases will be disposed off in six months. Temporary ban on these mines could cut supplies of high grade iron ore to the market by around 30 million tonne.
"Now that the SC has given a direction, we will make the best possible efforts to dispose off the applications of the 26 leases in six months. But given that in a few cases where renewal has not been done for even 20 years, it will be tough to clear such cases in such a short span. In that case, we will make a prayer to the apex court to extend the timeline", said a senior officer at the state steel & mines department.
Explaining the reasons for delay, he said, "Most of the renewal cases being quasi judicial matters, it is not easy to decide their cases swiftly. Further, statutory clearances for the mines like environment and forestry clearances are also time consuming", he added.
But miners or steel makers are not impressed by the state government's arguments.
"If a miner has applied for renewal well in advance, he cannot be faulted. It is the state government's responsibility to ensure that the renewal applications are disposed off in time", says a top official of a leading steel company sourcing ore from Odisha.
With the state government still dithering on renewal, the miners destined to suffer range from Tata Steel & Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) to state owned Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and a host of private lessees.
The biggest blow possibly would be on Tata Steel whose six captive mines- Joda East, Joda West, Khandbandh, Bamebari, Manmora and Guruda will go off operations after the SC order. The order also means suspension of three of SAIL's operations- Bolani, Barsuan and Kalta.
Other miners to be impacted are KJS Ahluwalia, KN Ram, Kalinga Mining Corporation, Kaypee Enterprises, Mideast Integrated Steel, Aryan Mining & Trading Corporation Ltd, Bonai Industrial Company Ltd, B I Company Ltd, Feegrade & Company Ltd, OMM Pvt Ltd, OMC and Rungta Mines Ltd.
Prior to the Supreme Court, the Odisha High Court (HC) in December 2012, had directed the state government to clear all pending mining lease renewal applications within three months. The state government, however, has been seeking repeated extensions for being unable to decide on such cases.
It was only after the HC order that the state government set up an inter-departmental committee chaired by the additional chief secretary that would exclusively decide the cases of mine lease renewal.
In a recent submission to the Supreme Court appointed central empowered committee (CEC), the Odisha chief secretary J K Mohapatra said, "A special drive has been undertaken to complete the process of renewal of the mining leases and for this purpose a high level committee under the chairmanship of the additional chief secretary has been constituted and this committee has met five times and in a number of cases,'in principle' decisions have been taken and efforts are on to ensure that the process of renewal of leases is completed within the next six months."
The CEC in its report on illegal mining in Odisha in April 2010, had pointed out the misuse of 'deemed extension' clause in the state under Rules 24-A (6) of Mineral Concession Rules-1960.
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