Keonjhar: The Supreme Court has debarred the mining firms from participating in tender processes until and unless they clear their outstanding penalties, a report said Saturday.
Acting on the order, Soudamini Sethy, additional secretary of Steel and Mines department, issued a letter-9937, dated October 3, 2023 to the Director of Mines.
The apex court passed the order August 14 this year while hearing a writ petition filed by a social outfit ‘Common Cause’ against the Union government and others. The letter follows this order of the apex court.
Many mining firms are alleged to have extracted minerals beyond the permissible limits and transported those to various destinations without having environmental clearance. As a result, roads in the mining areas and elsewhere in Keonjhar district have been severely damaged.
Excessive mining has also resulted in air and water pollution and severely contaminated the river water. After large scale protests ensued, the Supreme Court intervened in the matter. It formed a commission under Justice MB Shah and directed to probe the matter and submit a report before it.
During its probe, the Shah Commission found out how various mining firms have mined minerals in complete violation of norms. These firms were found to have extracted minerals in excess sans environmental clearance.
The owners and lessees raked in the mullah by transporting the minerals to various destinations. The commission also found out how firms extracted and transported minerals by violating mineral concession rules, while another firm had earned big bucks by engaging in other mining works.
In his report, Justice Shah also pointed out that lack of proper disposal of waste in the mines has resulted in environmental pollution adversely impacting common people in the mineral bearing district.
He directed to make an assessment of environmental pollution arising out of excess mining and decided to impose penalty on the mining firms. While some firms paid the penalty, others dilly-dallied in payment of fines.
As a result, the state government filed certificate cases against the defaulting firms and launched process to confiscate their properties. Some of the defaulting firms paid their fine when the matter was sub-judice in the court while rest of the defaulting firms went on buying time on various pretexts and filed cases in the tribunals and courts.
Meanwhile, the state government has failed to attach the properties of defaulting firms as the certificate cases are pending in the court. This has proved a blessing in disguise for the defaulting firms as they continue to buy time.
A social activist Mukhtar Ahmed said that it is unfortunate how the defaulting firms have managed to approach other judicial forums when the Supreme Court has directed to collect penalty from them. Observers have demanded not to further assign lease of any mine to the tainted firms or individuals involved in mining scam.
PNN