COMMENTARY
INTERVIEW
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

Delhi HC admits plea on Bailadila mines transfer case

The Delhi high court on Wednesday admitted a public interest petition challenging the transfer of the Bailadila mines in Bastar district of Madhya Pradesh to a private joint venture company and asked the parties involved to file within three weeks their synopsis in the case.

The division bench consisting of Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice A K Shrivastava ruled that since the matter involved an important issue, it will be heard on an urgent basis.

Moreover, since the bench had already heard the matter in detail, the judges kept it partered (to be heard by the same division bench). Generally, once a petition is admitted, it can be heard by any other division bench.

The court, on the request of counsel V V R Reddy, allowed the National Mineral Development Corporation Ltd to file an additional affidavit into the matter which should be followed by a rejoinder by the petitioner, Dr B L Wadehra, within three days, if necessary.

While the petitioner was directed to file the synopsis within 10 days, the six respondents in the case -- the ministry of steel and mines, ministry of finance, NMDC, prime minister's office, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Srikant Jena, and former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao -- to file their synopsis within one week thereafter.

Dr Wadehra contended that it was the government decision to direct the NMDC regarding the transfer of the Bailadila mines to the joint venture in which the Mittals and its associate, the Nippon Denro Ispat Ltd, had a commanding 89 per cent equity stake.

''The government decision to transfer the lease of 11B mine at Bailadila to the joint venture company, where the government had only 11 per cent share, was illegal and without jurisdiction and against the interest of NMDC,'' Dr Wadehra said.

He said that since the decision of the government did not come in the form of a directive but through a letter, the decision was liable to be dismissed.

The board of the NMDC had decided that it should not be transferred to a private firm and in case it was transferred to anybody else, the NMDC should hold at least 27 per cent of the shares, the petitioner contended.

The petition sought from the court a direction to the respondents not to transfer the lease of a part of the 11B iron ore mines at Bailadila to the joint venture company at a unconscionable price of a little less than Rs 170 million instead of the market price which would be several times more than the figure.

The amount for which the mine was being sold was just 10 week's profit earned by NMDC from the mine, whose content bears iron as high as 60 per cent.

It said that the present federal ministry, as its predecessor, was overly keen to hand over to the Mittals on a platter a part of the Bailadila 11B mines of NMDC at a price which can be termed as pittance, thus causing immense loss to the government undertaking and immense undue profits and enrichment to the Mittals.

''The federal government's act is therefore nothing else than an act of naked sellout for reasons best known to the authorities which participate in the decision-making and those pulling wires from behind. The deal is therefore liable to struck down by the court," Dr Wadehra said.

UNI