RANCHI: Jharkhand will move the Supreme Court against the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2026, after Chief Minister Hemant Soren approved the decision.
Calling it a “draconian law” in the context of Jharkhand, Finance Minister Radhakrishna Kishore said the state government would continue collecting cess and challenge the law in court.
Kishore said the amendment had nullified Jharkhand’s claim of Rs 1.36 lakh crore against the Centre over coal royalties and land revenue. He said the government would oppose the law on two fronts — by taking the issue to the people and by approaching the Supreme Court.
He said the new law had caused a twofold loss to the state. Besides nullifying the Rs 1.36 lakh crore claim, it also barred states from levying cess on minerals and prevented payment of past arrears.
“Consequently, the Jharkhand government intends to fight this on two fronts: taking the issue to the public and knocking on the doors of the Supreme Court,” said the finance minister.
Kishore said it was unacceptable that land and minerals belonged to the state while the revenue generated from them went to the Centre.
He said the state had to bear the cost of repairing roads damaged by mineral transportation and addressing health and environmental issues caused by mining.
On cess, Kishore said it had been introduced after being passed by the Jharkhand Assembly in accordance with Supreme Court guidelines.
“We will recover the loss of approximately Rs 14,000 crore—which we will incur due to this—under any circumstances,” said Kishore.
The BJP, however, alleged that the Hemant Soren government was opposing the MMDR Act because it contained strict provisions against illegal mining.
State BJP spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo said the government did not want action against the mining mafia.
“The mafia and their political patrons are flourishing at the cost of villagers' lives; expert assessments suggest that the volume of coal produced through illegal mining exceeds the production by Coal India's subsidiary units,” said Shahdeo.