Fresh twist to Tisco land lease case

The chief minister of Jharkhand, Arjun Munda, appears to be shifting his stand on the issue of renewal of the land lease agreement in favour of Tata Steel.

Sources in the state capital here said Munda had been overwhelmed by the rush of the prospective investors like Mittal Steel, Jindal steel, Ispat Industries and many others for mining and land leases in Jharkhand.

Munda said in the Jharkhand Assembly recently that the state government would not renew the lease agreement until Tisco cleared its past dues, including penalty, amounting to Rs 136.53 crore.

Munda said the Jharkhand government had ordered the unconditional renewal of the lease immediately after the creation of the state.

However, the decision of the government did not include the land falling in the schedule 1V and V categories.

The chief minister said Tatas had violated certain provisions of the earlier lease agreement signed with the erstwhile Bihar government, particularly relating to schedule lll land.

The committee set up by the state government imposed penalty of Rs 136.53 crore these alleged violations of lease provisions. Tisco disputed this conclusion and filed a case challenging the decision in the Jharkhand High Court.

The Jharkhand land reforms minister, CP Choudhary, in reply to another question in the state assembly, said the state government had renewed the land lease falling under the schedule 1, ll and lll categories, on which Tatas had set up factories and other necessary infrastructure, but the formal notification had not yet been issued.

Industry sources said the relationship between the house of Tatas and the Jharkhand government had always been cordial. The Tisco Managing Director, B Muthuraman, had enjoyed a comfortable relationship with Munda.

Disagreements cropped up after Muthuraman spoke at length on the contribution of the Tatas to the development of the former undivided Bihar state and today's Jharkhand in presence of Munda at the recent inauguration of the one million tonne expansion project of Tata Steel in Jamshedpur.

Munda and his ministers felt the contribution of the state government had not been recognised, said sources.

Muthuraman had also criticised the nature of the prospective investors now rushing to Jharkhand.

Renewal of land lease agreement had been pending since 1995, when the land was under the undivided Bihar state.

The NDA-led government had assured Tatas that the lease would be cleared at the earliest, but it never happened.