BHUBANESWAR: As auction of mines in the State continues to face legal hurdles, the State Government has once again written to the Ministry of Mines to raise the bar on maximum area for which a prospecting licence or mining lease may be granted. Even as the State Government kept 16 mines ready for auction, it is unable to initiate the process due to a legal impediment. “The State is in all readiness for auction of 16 mines, including 10 iron ore blocks by this fiscal end.
But, it depends on the Centre which is yet to take a call on the State Government’s application for extension of mining area limit for grant of lease,” Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Mallick said. In May, a bench of Delhi High Court had stayed auction process with a direction to the Centre to decide Odisha Government’s request for extension of permission limit of the mining lease area from 10 sq km to 75 sq km in 15 days.
The court order came in response to petitions challenging the e-auction of Chandiposhi and Purheibahal iron ore blocks in Sundargarh district, scheduled for May 5 and 8. Section 6 (1) (b) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 allows mining rights to a company for minerals up to a 10 sqkm in a State.
Any additional allocation must be justified by the State Government in writing and approved by the Centre. In March, the State Government had written to the Ministry of Mines to extend the 10 sq km cap to 75 sq km to facilitate Tata Steel and State-run SAIL’s participation in the auctions. Tata Steel, which has six iron ore and manganese leases in the State with combined lease area of about 50 sq km, had requested the State Government to extend the area limit to 120 sq km.