Ending all speculations about the judgment of the Supreme Court on penalty to be imposed on illegal mining in Odisha, the hearing for which the hearing had ended a month back, the court on Wednesday ruled that the mining companies which had been operating without necessary clearances shall be subject to a 100-per cent penalty on the price of the ore that had been illegally extracted.
The apex court, in fact, upheld the Odisha Government’s earlier announced penalty of Rs60,000 crore on the companies for illegal mining.
The court also termed the Government’s policy on mining outdated and directed it to frame a new policy by December 31, 2017 to protect the country’s natural resources for future generations.
“The facts revealed during the hearing of these writ petitions filed under Article 32 of the Constitution suggest a mining scandal of enormous proportions and one involving megabucks,” said the court’s Bench headed by Justice Madan B lokur.
“lessees in the districts of Keonjhar, Sundargarh and Mayurbhanj in Odisha have rapaciously mined iron ore and manganese ore, apparently destroyed the environment and forests and perhaps caused untold misery to the tribals in the area,” stated the court’s ruling.
In 2009, allegations of a multi-crore mining scam had rocked the Odisha Assembly and the Parliament, following which the Justice MB Shah Commission was assigned to probe illegal mining in Odisha, Goa, Karnataka and other areas. While the investigations in Odisha were going on, the State Government in November 2012 issued a penalty notice of about Rs60,000 crore on different lessees of the Joda and Koira mining sectors. The Shah Commission took note of the fine imposed and recommended for its recovery.
Subsequently, a Public Interest litigation (PIl) case was filed by Common Cause, an NGO represented by Prashant Bhusan, which demanded action against illegal mining. The violations primarily involved companies that had illegally mined ore in excess of the quantum permitted under the forest or environmental clearances.
The court had through an expert committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge directed to identify the lapses that have occurred over the years that enabled rampant illegal and unlawful mining in Odisha. The panel was also asked to recommend preventive measures not only to Odisha but to all States in general.
In 2014, a Central Empowered Committee (CEC) under the Supreme Court had found that 102 of 187 iron and manganese ore mining leaseholders did not have the requisite clearances. According to the CEC, 2,155 lakh million tonnes of iron and manganese ore had been extracted without environmental clearances, a figure the court called “frightening”.
looking beyond Odisha, the court, in its order on Wednesday, also pointed out that the Union Government does not have an effective mining policy. It said that the one that does exist only on paper “is not being enforced perhaps due to the involvement of very powerful vested interests or a failure of nerve”. It directed the Centre to develop a new mining policy, one that takes into account “the advent of rapacious mining in several parts of the country”, calling for the new law to be “more effective, meaningful and implementable”.
All major mining companies including Aditya Birla, Tatas, Jindal, Rungta, SAIl, OMC and Serajuddin and even small lessees are going to suffer heavily due to this penalty leading to collapse of several companies, a mining expert commented. The Tatas would be the worst-hit in tern of the quantum of the fine to be paid.