With the Supreme Court constituted Central Empowered Committee (CEC) expected to submit its report by Friday recommending terms for re-opening of “A” category mines, owners of which are guilty of only marginal illegalities, the NGO, Samaj Parivartan Samudaya (SPS), has appealed to it to exercise caution and not allow private parties to make windfall gains from iron ore mining like they have done in the past.
“The CEC must take into account the judgment of the Supreme Court in the 2G case with respect to the allocation of scarce natural resources. It has clearly held that these resources must be alienated for private commercial exploitation through public auction where the state gets the true value of the resource and corruption is minimised”, the NGO's senior counsel, Prashanth Bhushan, urged the CEC in representations made on August 20 and 24. Recalling that the Union government constituted 12 ministries' secretaries' committee headed by Mr Ashok Chawla had recommended granting of mining leases by auction, he said this approach was also reflected in the MMDR Bill 2011 pending before the Lok Sabha.
“Whether the Bill is passed or not, the CEC must insist on the principle of auction keeping in view the mandate of the Supreme Court”, Mr Bhushan stressed. SPS president, S.R. Hiremath, has in a letter to the CEC sought cancellation of licenses given to all “B” and “C” category mines guilty of large-scale illegalities and urged it to suggest that no new mining leases be granted without the permission of the Supreme Court.
He also appealed to the CEC to recommend a permanent ban on iron ore exports, and continuation of iron ore e-auction in Karnataka, early passage of the MMDR Bill, which requires mining companies to share 26 per cent of their profits with the local communities and fixing of iron ore royalty rate at at least 40 per cent of the market-value of the ore to make sure the resource, which belongs to the people, is utilised for the welfare of the local community.