Keonjhar: The District Magistrate’s (DM) court held a hearing regarding the confiscation of assets of nine mining firms which had not paid the penalty imposed for illegal mining.
Eight of the mining firms appeared in the court Saturday. The Arjun Lodha Mine representative did not appear.
Among the eight mining firms which deposed before the court are Shibdatt Sharma, Narayani Sons (two mines), Mala Ray, BPME, MR Das and OMDC.
The court directed the mining firms of Shibdat Sharma, Narayani Sons (two mines) and Arjun Lodha to pay their penalties by the next hearing of their case slated for March 16. If they do not pay, they will have to pay 12 per cent interest on the penalty imposed on them, the court ruled.
The next hearing of all the mining firms will be held March 16. The DM court asked the mining firms to indicate when they will pay their penalties.
OMDC has agreed to clear the remaining penalty of Rs 544.76 crore in the next 30 days.
The MR Das mine has been asked to make it clear by March 13 how and when it will pay its penalty of Rs 2.72 crore.
Narayani Sons (for another mine) has been asked to pay a penalty of Rs 14.16 crore. If the firm fails to pay the fine soon a warrant will be issued against it by March 2, the court said.
The court sought the reply of the government counsel regarding the reply given by mining firm SN Dasmohapatra. This firm had sought Supreme Court’s permission to sell its stocked ore. The case is sub-judice now.
The Shibdatt Sharma mine has to pay Rs 2.97 crore as penalty while the Mala Ray mine will have to clear a penalty of Rs 240.31 crore and BPME Rs 871.43 crore.
As per the SC directive, the DM court had issued notices to 23 leaseholders of 31 mines for Rs 6,350 crore. As they had not paid the penalty, cases were filed against them at the DM court.
The DM court has already held many hearings. The first hearing was held July 28, 2018.
PNN
