The Odisha government today said it would dispose all applications pertaining to renewal of mining leases within three months as directed by the Orissa High Court.

“We have already started the process of disposing pending mining lease renewal applications,” Deepak Kumar Mohanty, Director of Mines said after the state government reviewed the status of pending applications.

The state government swung into action after Orissa High Court on its December 21 order asked the state government to clear all the pending cases pertaining to renewal of mining leases within three months.

The High Court Division Bench of Chief Justice V Gopala Gowda and Justice B N Mohapatra on December 21 expressed its anguish saying “we are extremely disturbed over the pending applications for renewal of mining leases” and verbally observed that “the State Government was deliberately delaying disposal of renewal applications.”

Claiming that state government was working on disposal of applications, Mohanty said there are 323 applications seeking renewal of mining lease. Of 323 cases, 50 mines were being operated on deemed renewal category. Meanwhile, the state government has recommended the application of mining lease for approval to the Centre, he said.

Mohanty said one has to be careful before disposing the case as matters like forest clearance, environment clearance and other factors are closely linked to the process.

“We have asked officials to expeditiously dispose the mining lease applications to meet the High Court deadline,” he said.

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