The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would allow the Karnataka government to decide the manner in which 15 iron ore mines in the state will be auctioned.
A three-judge bench comprising justices Ranjan Gogoi, R.K. Agrawal and N.V. Ramana is considering the modalities governing the auction of 15 Category C mines.
These 15 mines are expected to yield about 6-7 million metric tonnes of iron ore.
While saying that it did not want to intervene in the auction process itself, the court said that its orders had to be implemented. “If the state is found deficient in complying with court orders, we’ll deal with the state,” the court said during the course of arguments in the case. The court also asked for a schedule for auctioning all 51 Category C mines.
In April 2013, the court had cancelled all Category C mining licences in the state. A Central Empowered Committee (CEC) appointed by the court had previously classified mines as A, B or C depending on the extent to which they had violated laws (C was the worst).
The categorisation was suggested by CEC based on the extent of encroachment by miners in terms of mining pits and overburdened dumps. The apex court accepted the categorisation in its 2013 verdict.
Of all the Category C mines, 15 of those whose leases were cancelled by the apex court earlier are ready to be auctioned, lawyer for Karnataka government Anitha Shenoy told the court. Auctions could commence within 30 days, she added. The Karnataka government has been trying to get the process underway for at least a year.
Shenoy further said an in-depth exploration being conducted by the Mineral Exploration Corp. Ltd (MECL) of the 36 remaining mines in Category C would require 18 months.
The court has asked the secretary, department of mines, Karnataka, to be present in court on Thursday to assist the court..
The Karnataka Iron and Steel Manufacturers’ Association also sought modification of the auction details. While the recommendations of the CEC for these auctions was that the auctions should be open to industries located or proposed to be located in the state, the association said it should go to existing industries alone.
The court also asked why the auction should not be opened up for the whole market, instead of restricting it to end users only. The Karnataka government told the court that it is amenable to doing this, although the association opposed the proposal.
The court will hear further arguments on Thursday.
Source: Live Mint