Supreme Court Refuses To Pass Order In JSPL’s Sarda Mines Case

The Supreme Court declined to pass a judgment on Jindal Steel & Power Ltd.'s plea to allow sale of Rs 2,000-crore worth of iron ore from its Sarda mines in Odisha.

The apex court said it will hear the case in the second week of January.

In 2017, the Supreme Court had directed that a 100 percent penalty would be levied on steelmakers that have illegally extracted iron and manganese ore in Odisha since 2000-01. The penalty would be applicable on the total value of illegal mining extracts by each company over the years.

JSPL Managing Director VR Sharma, however, said the steelmaker has a “legitimate right” over the material at the mine as it has paid the duties and royalties levied on it.

“The duty, royalty is paid by JSPL. The material cost is paid by JSPL. It is our material. We have full trust in honorable court, we will get justice,” Sharma told BloombergQuint in an interview. The material is financed by Indian banks for JSPL and the company is incurring the cost of financing, he said.

Sharma also refuted the allegations of illegal mining. Mining was done at Sarda when the environment clearance was valid, he said. “Nothing has been produced after the environment clearance date was over,” he said. “Everything is crystal clear. The mines were closed from March 2015 and the material was produced before that. There's no question of illegal activities.”

On Tuesday, JSPL shares fell 6.18 percent to Rs 149.55 apiece on the BSE while the benchmark Sensex shed 0.31 percent to end the day at 40,675.45 points.

Watch | JSPL MD VR Sharma on the Sarda mines case in Supreme Court