The Supreme Court has allowed the Vedanta Ltd to participate in the bid for alumina sale tenders floated by the National Aluminium Company (Nalco).
According to the decision of a three-judge Bench of the apex court, Vedanta’s foreign units can bid for Nalco’s alumina tenders meant for exports.
The court further said that if Vedanta’s bid is accepted, the company can use the raw material at its Jharsuguda plant after taking it from the Visakhapatnam Port.
It may be pointed out that the Nalco had challenged an order of the Orissa High Court last year allowing the Vedanta to take part in tenders for sale of the former company’s surplus alumina.
Notably, the Vedanta Ltd has an alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district and a smelter plant at Jharsuguda. But the company lacks adequate bauxite supplies as tribals of the Niyamgiri Hills in Kalahandi and Rayagada districts stopped its bid to extract the mineral in the hills.
The company is, therefore, now forced to buy alumina from other local miners or import it.