SC may pass interim order for halting illegal mining activities in Odisha

Just days after partially lifting the Goa mining ban, the Supreme Court (SC) has indicated that it will pass an interim order on a plea for halting illegal mining activities in Odisha and the priority before it would be to stop 40 out of 56 iron ore mines operating under “deemed-renewed leases.” A green bench headed by Justice AK Patnaik, though ruled out the possibility of a blanket ban on mining and limited its potential directive to 40 iron ore mine lease, which have been identified as operating under the provision of ‘deemed renewed’ leases after expiry of their lease period, by apex court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC). The order by the bench, also comprising justices SS Nijjar and FMI Kali-fulla, was reserved after scrutinizing the interim report submitted by the CEC that spelt out the status of leases and approvals of miners in Odisha. The interim report underscored huge number of mining leases in the state that had been operational long after the expiry of the lease period. The 40 such leases included those of Tata Steel, Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and Jindal Steel and Power, operating under the deemed approved norms. CEC pointed that in total there were 187 iron ore and manganese mines in Odisha, out of which 56 were functional, while as many as 131 mining leases did not have required statutory approvals or lapsed leases that were not operational. It further highlighted that of the 131 mines, 102 were sans forest clearances or environmental clearances and were hence suspended and classified as ‘non-working leases’, while of working 56 iron ore mines, only 16 had lease deeds executed in their favour and the rest 40 leases expired and were operating as ‘deemed approved’. The apex court-appointed committee also elucidated that Odisha government, on this issue, said that renewal application of miners were under 'various stages of examination' and in some cases 'in-principle' decision to grant renewal had been taken but follow up actions were under process.