Jharkhand moves court on SAIL-IISCO merger

Despite agreeing to reach an out-of-court settlement on the Chiria mines with state-run Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) in a deal brokered by the Prime Minister's Office recently, the Jharkhand government has approached the Ranchi High Court questioning the merger of the steel-maker with Indian Iron & Steel Company (IISCO).

In an affidavit filed on September 14, a copy of which is available with Business Standard, the Jharkhand government said that at meetings involving IISCO, SAIL, the state government and the central government, no tangible results emerged "due to the adamant attitude of SAIL".

It also questioned the merger of SAIL with IISCO, saying the matter "is highly illegal and without any jurisdiction, and is surrounded in mystery as being fake and in violation of Rule 37 of the M.C. Rule, 1960".

The affidavit also accused SAIL of increasing its demand for iron ore without "rhyme or reason" and "willingly and intentionally trying to deflate the purpose of meetings and creating hindrances by an arbitrary demand for increasing its iron ore requirement, which the state in the present circumstances could not agree to accept".

IISCO, which had six leases in the prized Chiria mines, merged with SAIL in February this year. The Jharkhand government then cancelled three of the six leases held by IISCO, following which SAIL took legal recourse.

While the legal process dragged on, the PMO stepped in to make the warring parties come to the table for talks.

After several rounds of parleys under the chairmanship of the principal secretary, Jharkhand and SAIL agreed on an out-of-court settlement and signed a memorandum of understanding at the beginning of this month. As part of the agreement, SAIL would get 1 billion tonnes of iron ore from the Chiria mines immediately.