The state government has decided to move the Odisha High Court soon, contesting the order of the revision authority under Union ministry of mines in cases of illegal mining by two lessees- Arjun Ladha and Indrani Patnaik.
The revision authority had set aside the orders passed by the state steel & mines department in both the cases. The orders were passed by the department after a prolonged enquiry by the State Vigilance which probed illegal mining allegations against the two lessees.
Raghunath Mohanty, the state steel & mines minister said, “The order of the revision authority is not final. After due scrutiny of the cases of Arjun Ladha and Indrani Patnaik, the state government has taken a decision to move the Odisha High Court.”
“The state government will defend its order passed in the cases of these two lessees. The mine lease of Arjun Ladha was terminated based on the enquiry of the State Vigilance. In case of Indrani Patnaik, we had raised demand for cost recovery against excess ore production which was not complied by the lessee,” a top official source said.
In case of Arjun Ladha, the steel & mines department had passed order for termination of the mining lease spread over 326.5 hectares in Haramoto village in Keonjhar district on February 15, 2011 under Rule 27 (5) of Mineral Concession Rules-1960. Later, the lessee had contested the government order in the revision authority on April 26, 2011.
In its order, the state government said the lessee had violated Rule 27 (1) of Mineral Concession Rules by not keeping accurate and faithful accounts showing the quantity and other particulars of all minerals obtained and despatched from the mines. It was found during field inspection ovr dumping had been done by the lessee over the lease boundary line in the southern side of the mine lease area.
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Besides, Arjun Ladha had violated the conditions of the lease agreement under Rule 27 of Mineral Concession Rules by carrying out illegal mining beyond is lease hold area. The state government had also held the lessee guilty of violating Section 2 of Forest Conservation Act-1980 by expanding the broken up area inside the Karo reserve forest area from 19.05 hectares in 1996 to 48.77 hectares in 2004 and to 59.11 hectares in 2009.
In case of Indrani Patnaik, the state government had raised demand of Rs 1,131.72 crore under Section 21 (5) of Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act-1957 over irregularities in production and despatch of iron ore between May 2008 and September 2009 from its Unchabali iron ore & manganese mines spread over 106.12 hectares in Keonjhar district. The revision authority on January 16, 2012 had set aside the impugned order of the state government dated November 25, 2010.