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The state steel & mines department is set to miss the deadline stipulated by the Odisha High Court (HC) for disposing off pending applications for mine lease renewal.
In an interim order delivered on December 21 last year, the HC had instructed the state government to dispose off all applications for renewal of mining leases within three months.
“There is a huge volume of cases of mining lease renewal pending for disposal. These being quasi judicial matters, it is not feasible to dispose them off within three months. Hence, we have decided to request the HC to offer us some more time,” said a senior steel & mines department official.
As many as 323 mining lease applications are pending for renewal. Three officers of the steel & mines department were deployed to decide on renewal cases.
The HC had asked the state government to expedite renewal applications while hearing a petition filed by social activist Biswajit Mohanty, who prayed for repeal of the Rule 24-A (6) of the Mineral Concession Rules (MCR)-1960 which allowed operation of mines under “deemed extension” clause in the event of delay in lease renewal.
The HC, however, declined to pass a stay order on the operation of the mines under deemed extension provision, saying it has to examine the constitutional validity of such an action.
The Odisha HC while admitting the PIL seeking repeal of controversial deemed extension clause of MCR-1960, had issued notices to the state and Union government for responses.
Under Section 24 A clause 6 of MCR, if a miner has applied for lease renewal a year before the lease expiry and the state government fails to expedite renewal applications within due date, then the miner will be considered to be operating the mine under extension of lease validity.
The petitioner said that many miners are operating under this provision with the connivance of state government officials and in some cases, the deemed extension period goes beyond 20 years after lease expiry.
Fifty miners were operating their leases under ‘deemed extension’. They include Tata Steel, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL), Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC), Essel Mining & Industries Ltd (EMIL), Mid East Integrated Steel Ltd, Ferro Alloys Corporation (FACOR), Rungta Sons and KJS Ahluwalia to name a few.
