Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government Saturday started the process to confiscate properties of mine owners, who have not paid penalty for illegal mining activities.
As many as nine lessees against whom certificate cases have been lodged are appearing in Keonjhar District Magistrate’s court Saturday. They are BK Mohanty, Gandhamardan Sponge, Mala Roy and Brothers, BPME Ltd, Narayani Sons, SD Sharma, Sharada Mines, HG Pandya and Brothers and Basudev Aggarwal.
During the hearing, the defaulters will apprise the court of the circumstances under which they failed to pay the fine as per the directive of the Supreme Court.
The next hearing is likely to be held August 4 and 18 respectively.
The apex court August 2, 2017 had called the Odisha mining scam as rapacious and one involving megabucks while disposing a writ petition filed by NGO Common Cause. “… If there has been illegal mining, the defaulting lessee must bear the consequences and not be benefited by pocketing 70% of the illegally mined ore. It simply does not stand to reason why the state should be compelled to forego what is its due from the exploitation of a natural resource and on the contrary be a party in filling the coffers of defaulting lessees in an ill gotten manner,” it said.
According to the judgment, a total Rs 17500 crore penalty was to be collected from the defaulters.
The state government has now toughened its stand and gearing up for action against the defaulters by confiscating property under the Odisha Public Demands Recovery (OPDR) Act.