Setting aside the judgement of the Odisha High Court, which had quashed the State Government’s recommendation for mineral prospecting licence (Pl) for Khandadhar iron ore mine in favour of Posco, the Supreme Court on Friday asked the Central Government to take a decision on the issue.
Supreme Court Justice RM lodha also directed the Centre to consider other applications for the Khandadhar mine and to consider all objections raised by various parties against allotment of the mineral Pl for the Posco project, which is the single largest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of the country.
The apex court had on March 21 concluded a two-year-long hearing in the case and reserved the judgement.
Earlier, a Division Bench of the Odisha High Court in July 2010 had rejected the State Government’s January 2009 recommendation for granting Pl in favour of Posco. The High Court’s verdict came after Geomin Minerals and Marketing (P) ltd contested the State’s recommendation in the court.
Geomin and other claimants for the mine had argued that the State Government did not considered their applications, some of which were submitted as early as in 1991 and, instead, recommended Posco’s case though it applied in 2005.
The High Court had directed the Government to reconsider the cases of the other applications for the mine who had submitted their applications prior to Posco.
Challenging the High Court order, the State Government and Posco had moved the Supreme Court in October 2010. The Khandadhar mine in Sundargarh district is spread over an area of 2,500 hectares is estimated to have 600 million tonnes of high grade iron ore deposits.