Bhubaneswar, March 2: Seventeen mine owners, who are holding 20 mineral blocks, are yet to pay a penalty of Rs 2,693.55 crore imposed on them by the Supreme Court for excess mining in violation of the mining plan and statutory clearances.
According to officials, the State Government had imposed a penalty of Rs 17,576.39 crore on 133 mine owners for extraction of minerals in violation of EC/FC (Environmental Clearance/Forest Clearance), and MP/CTO (Mining Permit/Consent to Operate), pursuant to the SC order issued on August 2, 2017. Of the total amount, Rs 2,693.55 crore has not been paid by 17 lease holders.
In 2018, certificate cases under the provision of the Orissa Public Demands Recovery (OPDR) Act, 1962 have been initiated against the defaulters for realization of the fine.
In October last year, the Supreme Court criticized the State Government for non-recovery of the fine from mining leaseholders found guilty of illegal extraction of iron and manganese ore. The monies had to be paid by 31 December 2017, but yet not realized. The apex court had ordered the State to levy interest on the
After the October 2025 order, the State was able to collect only Rs 38.46 crore from the mining lessee, the sources said.
So, till now, the 17 mine lease-holders operating mines in Keonjhar, Sundargarh, and Mayurbhanj districts are yet to pay penalty of Rs 2697.55 crore towards OPDR case amount after the order dated 14.L0.2025 of the Supreme Court of India.
The 17 defaulters are—Gandhamardhan Sponge Industries (P) Ltd, B D Ararwala, J K Choubey, Basant Kumar Das, H G Pandya & others, BPME Ltd, B K Mohanty, TB Lal & Co, B C Deb, Arjun Lodha, Bhaja Minerals, Mideast Integrated Steel Ltd, S N Dasmohapatra, OM&M Ltd, BS Misra and Zenith Mining (P) Ltd.
Notably, the Government of India had constituted a Commission of inquiry led by justice M B Shah in 2010 to inquire into the alleged illegal mining in the State in respect of the iron and manganese mining leases.
Later, a Writ Petition was filed by the NGO Common Cause in 2014 with a prayer for an investigation on the issue by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The facts placed in the report of the Shah Commission were challenged by the concerned mining lease holders on the grounds of production figures, price of the minerals, approval of Mining Plan vis-a-vis Environment Clearance (EC).
The Supreme Court, having considered the petitions of the mining lease holders, directed the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to inquire into the issues without reference to the Shah Commission’s Report.
Later, CEC reconciled the figures of production from 2000-01 to 2010-11 in respect of all the mining leases in Odisha along with the validity of the EC and came up with the assessment of compensation to the tune of Rs 17,091.24 cores and Rs 484.92 crore in the iron ore and manganese mining leases respectively towards extraction of minerals in violation of EC/FC (Environmental Clearance/Forest Clearance), and MP/CTO (Mining Permit/Consent to Operate).
In compliance with the orders of the SC on 02.08 .2017, the State Government had raised a demand of Rs 18,169.14 crore on unlawful mining; for violation of EC/FC. (EOM)
