Supreme Court Seeks "Clear Stand" Of Karnataka Govt On Lifting Curbs On Iron Ore Export
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While reserving orders on lifting the ban imposed on export of the iron ore in Karnataka and removal of the condition of sale only through e-auctions, the Supreme Court on Monday sought State of Karnataka's 'clear stand' with respect to these issues.The Court issued the direction after Addl. Advocate General Nikhil Goel appearing for the State of Karnataka submitted that the state is scheduled...
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While reserving orders on lifting the ban imposed on export of the iron ore in Karnataka and removal of the condition of sale only through e-auctions, the Supreme Court on Monday sought State of Karnataka's 'clear stand' with respect to these issues.
The Court issued the direction after Addl. Advocate General Nikhil Goel appearing for the State of Karnataka submitted that the state is scheduled to consider these two issues in its cabinet meeting today, and will have a clear stand after the said meeting.
The Court therefore asked the State to place its stand through an affidavit by tomorrow.
A Bench comprising the Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Hima Kohli was considering a batch of applications seeking the lifting of export ban on iron ore from Karnataka, which was imposed in 2011 after finding rampant violations.
On the last occasion, the Supreme Court had asked the Ministry of Steel whether sufficient iron ore is available for the domestic market and if exports of iron ore mined from the State of Karnataka can be permitted.
Pursuant to court's orders, the Ministry of Steel through its affidavit stated that the Court may consider vacating the order for district level caps on iron ore mining imposed on production of iron ore from the districts of Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur in order to ensure availability of sufficient iron ore in the State of Karnataka.
Further, the Ministry said that the Court may consider equality of treatment between the mines in the State of Karnataka and rest of the country, which would permit inter-state trade (which at present is not operational) of iron ore mined in the State of Karnataka.
Further, the export of iron ore may take place in accordance with extant policy of the Government.
The Ministry informed the court that at present, the country produces around 120 Million Tonnes of Steel annually, which requires more than 192 MT of iron ore. Further per capita consumption of steel in the country is one of the lowest in the world, this is around 78 kg.
According to the Ministry, in order to rectify environmental damage and move towards circular economy, consumption of steel in the country needs to increase exponentially so that major portion of steel is produced using scrap, for which the production of steel needs to increase in the immediate future, which hinges on availability of proportionate iron ore.
During the hearing today, Senior Advocates Dushyant Dave, Krishnan Venugopal and Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for different miners, argued in favour of lifting the ban imposed on export of the iron ore and removal of the condition of sale only through e-auctions.
ASG KM Nataraj appearing for the Union of India clarified that as far as the Union Government is concerned, their clear stand is that export of iron ore can be allowed.
"We are not concerned about competing policy here, we are concerned with the policy. The deficit concern can't be state specific," ASG said.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan appearing for the petitioner submitted that it is not the case of the Ministry of Steel that there's surplus of iron ore, and the same has been clarified through its affidavit.
It's the petitioner's case that export may not be permitted as it is not the government's case that there's excess production of iron ore in this country.
With regard to the concern of environmental damage, Mr Dave submitted that every mine has an approved mining plan and a fixed capacity.
Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi appearing for Federation of Indian Mineral Industries, submitted that since iron ore production has gone up, question on ban of pellets has come in.
He submitted that ban on export was imposed after Illegal mining was found in several areas, however in all those no cap has been imposed, either for ores or for pellets.
Senior Advocate Dwivedi submitted that whether the miners can be allowed to export or not, is a matter of national economic policy which is for the Government of India to determine.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for the steel manufacturers submitted that the ban on export can be lifted.
"Question is will you allow them to export iron ore which is meant for steel industry in this country? So far we haven't been importing iron ore, as iron ore was being sold through e auction. We aren't saying they not be allowed to export, we're saying there should be an e- auction," Mr Sibal said.
"There's nothing we can say now, Mr Bhushan's concern was of protecting the environment, then we started regulating everything. Now it appears to me it's between 2-3 companies," the CJI remarked.
The present applications have been filed in relation to several previous orders passed by Supreme Court relating to mining of Iron Ore and allied minerals in the State of Karnataka.
The Bench had earlier directed the Union of India and the State of Karnataka to file a response to the applications filed by next Friday.
The applications have been filed seeking modification of the orders passed in 2011 imposing curbs in mining in Karnataka. The Court had stopped several mines, banned export of iron ore and directed that sale of existing stocks of iron and manganese ore would be done only through e-auction. In 2012, the Court had then partially allowed mining in category A districts in Karnataka.
Case Title: Samaj Parivartan Samuday vs State od Karnataka & Ors, WP(C) 562/2009
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