Bizodisha Bureau, Cuttack, May 12, 2015 :

The Odisha High Court has granted interim stay on cancellation of lease agreements of eight mines, bringing some relief to the mine owning companies.

A division bench of the High Court comprising of justices Indrajit Mohanty and Biswanath Rath on Monday granted the interim stay on the cancellation of leases of these mines. It has directed the state government to file its reply in the matter and has fixed the next date of hearing in the matter for June 29.

The mines which were granted interim stay against cancellation of their lease deeds are Odisha Manganese & Minerals, M/s Narayani Sons & Pvt Ltd, Avin Jain, Tareni Minerals Pvt Ltd, Kalinga Mining Corporation, Odisha Manganese Minerals Ltd, B D Patnaik Minerals Pvt Ltd and Om & Mines Ltd.

The state government had served notices to the leaseholders of these mines to reply back as to why leases of these mines should not be cancelled.

The state government had told the court that while the government had granted leases to 18 mines it had served show cause notices to eight mines pertaining to cancellation of their lease agreements. The affected eight firms had moved the High Court against the state government’s decision.

Earlier, the state Cabinet at its meeting on January 5 this year decided to auction all other mines in the state excluding that of coal and issued a notification on January 12 in this regard.