CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court’s single judge bench of Justice SK Panigrahi on Monday reserved its judgment on a petition filed by Jindal Steel Limited challenging the revocation of its working permission over 51.99 hectares of diverted forest land in the Roida-I Iron and Manganese Mine area of Keonjhar district.
The company moved the court against an order issued by the divisional forest officer (DFO), Keonjhar, on October 19, 2025, which abruptly halted mining operations a day before Diwali. The company termed the DFO’s action arbitrary and malafide, arguing that it left the company without any immediate legal remedy.
Appearing for Jindal Steel Limited, senior advocates Ashok Parija and Gopal Jain contended that the company had lawfully acquired the mine through an e-auction held in March 2025, paying over Rs 700 crore in statutory dues and performance securities. They argued that the DFO lacked jurisdiction under Section 27 of the Odisha Forest Act, 1972, to revoke the working permission, as the company was merely using an existing access road through the Siddhamatha Reserve Forest, which had been previously used by earlier lessees with official and judicial approval.
The petition stated that the sudden stoppage of operations could jeopardise the company’s performance milestones, risk forfeiture of security deposits, and adversely affect the livelihood of nearly 400 employees. The company sought quashing of the DFO’s order, calling it illegal, unjustified, violating principles of natural justice.
The court also allowed an intervention petition filed by Kasturi Oram, former sarpanch of Bhadrasahi panchayat and a resident of the affected area. Represented by advocate Lalitendu Mishra, Oram argued that the DFO’s decision was a lawful regulatory measure aimed at curbing the ongoing environmental degradation in the reserve forest, caused by the unregulated movement of thousands of ore-laden trucks.
In a counter affidavit, DFO Dhamdhere Danraj Hanumant asserted that no forest clearance existed for the access road in question, which had allegedly been built illegally by previous lessees.
The DFO maintained that both he and the state government lacked authority to permit transportation of minerals through reserve forest areas without prior approval from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).