Odisha High Court Slams Jindal Steel

The recent Odisha High Court ruling against Jindal Steel Ltd (JSL) is unprecedented. The High Court has upheld the decision of Keonjhar Divisional Forest Officer to cancel JSL’s permission over 51.99 hectares of diverted forest land in the Roida-Iron and manganese mine in Keonjhar district but at the same time also gave an opportunity to the company to pursue statutory clearances. As per the Cuttack High Court “The company’s pursuit of mineral wealth in Odisha cannot trample on the sanctity of nature’s trust”. As per allegations and reports, JSL was using a route through Sidhamath reserve forest without obtaining diversion clearance and allegedly illegally extracting minor minerals for commercial use. As per the Divisional Forest Officer, no state government was empowered to transport minerals through reserve forest without approval from the ministry of environment, forests and climate change. On the other hand, Odisha High Court Justice Sanjeeb K Panigrahi said “A miner’s license is a privilege not a prerogative and his first duty is stewardship, not exploitation”. As it stands now the Odisha High Court ruling implies substantial financial liability in terms of royalties, penalties and operational disruption for JSL, reinforcing the importance of mining laws.