Amid continuing ban on mining in Goa for about one-and-a-half years, Vedanta group firm Sesa Sterlite is planning to lay off some employees in the iron ore business and will file an appeal in the relevant labour court seeking permission in this regard.
"We had made the application to lay off employees to the relevant authorities some time back, which was rejected. Now we are going into an appeal against the said order in the appellate court," Sesa Sterlite's Executive Director (Iron Ore Business) P K Mukherjee said.
However, it was not immediately clear when the move will be enacted or and how many employees will be laid off.
Mukherjee did not comment further on the matter.
Company sources said that any decision on laying off or retrenchment of the staff will depend on the outcome of Supreme Court judgement on mining ban in Goa.
The apex court had posted the matter for hearing on March 24. It had also appointed a six-member committee to suggest an annual cap on production of iron ore in Goa, which has been asked to submit its final report by March 15.
When asked about the next hearing in the apex court, Mukherjee said that "we are expecting a favourable judgement after 18 months of closure".
The mining ban has led to complete closure of iron ore business of Sesa Sterlite in Goa. The business used to be the mainstay for the company in its earlier avatar as Sesa Goa.
The ban had led to company reporting a negative EBITDA of Rs 148 crore from the iron ore business during April-December period of the current fiscal.
As on March, 2013, Sesa Sterlite's iron ore business had 3,857 employees and 2,497 contractual/temporary workers, according to the annual report of Sesa Goa for 2012-13. The company had pruned its employee strength by nearly 18 per cent in 2012-13 amid the mining bans in Goa and Karnataka.
In January, 2013, Sesa Goa had said that it has deferred payment of 25 per cent of salaries for the top management, including company's Managing Director and other Board members, and 10 per cent for manager level employees.
Sources said no pay cut was implemented for the staff involved in the iron ore business. However, with the prolonged mining ban, it has become tough for the company to maintain it and various options are being explored to reduce fixed costs, they said.
In October, 2012, the Supreme Court had imposed the ban in Goa following a report of Justice M B Shah Commission, which had pegged about Rs 35,000 crore loss to the exchequer due to illegal mining.
Prior to mining ban, Sesa Sterlite had the capacity to produce about 15 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of iron ore from Goa and was the largest iron ore producer cum exporter from the state.
