JOIN USSupreme Court allows export of excavated iron ore from Karnataka
In a huge relief for miners in Karnataka, the Supreme Court on Friday relaxed restrictions on the selling of extracted iron ore through e-auction only and allowed them to export the stocks, including pellets, produced from the mines in Ballari, Chitradurga and Tumakuru, to countries abroad as per the extant policy.
A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli said the time has come to review the system that was put in place over a decade ago, on halting the unchecked excavation of iron ore in the three prime districts in Karnataka.
"Ever since then, e-auction has been the only mode available for disposal of the excavated iron ore. The said arrangement has worked out satisfactorily so far. The situation that was prevalent in the region prior to the year 2011, has now changed for the better," it pointed out.
The top court said the order passed on September 23, 2011, deserved to be relaxed, in view of course correction, the regeneration post the ruinous damage caused to the environment and the various steps taken by the government.
It also noted consecutive e-auctions conducted by the Monitoring Committee have been receiving a poor response and the sale of iron ore even at the reserve price is dismally low.
The court noted that the records reveal that repeated attempts to resort to the e-auction process have not borne any fruitful results.
As a consequence, a large stock of iron ore, including sub-grade iron ore, is lying unused. As of March 31, 2022, the stocks available in category ‘A’ and ‘B’ mines are stated to be 82,98,130.5 MT. The stocks available in the auctioned category ‘C’ mines as of the given date is 12,25,100.5 MTs.
The stock in respect of e-auction category ‘A’ and category ‘B’ expired leases is 2,33,126.73 MTs and in mining leases outside the districts of Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur is 93,181 MT. The closing balance of iron ore available in all the mines across the State of Karnataka as of March 31, 2022, adds up to 11,94,783.93 MT.
The court rejected a plea by the Karnataka government and KISMA against the export of iron ores from the state mines as court-appointed CEC and the Union government's Ministries of Mines and Steel supported the demand by state miners for providing a level-playing field. The court put a plea for lifting the ceiling on the extraction of iron ore for consideration in the second week of July as it sought a view of an oversight authority appointed on April 21, 2022.