Jamshedpur, Nov. 22: The government has set the ball rolling for the renewal of the land lease to Tata Steel in schedule IV and V.

The special committee of the government, headed by chief secretary G. Krishnan, today met in Ranchi and discussed aspects of the two schedules. The meeting lasted for over an hour.

The government had formed the committee to resolve the disputes pertaining to the two schedules. Senior government authorities are members of the committee.

“This was the first meeting and we would meet again next week to carry on with our discussions,” Krishnan told The Telegraph over telephone from Ranchi.

The two schedules, measuring about 8,300 acres the land, involve the land holdings sub-leased by Tata Steel (schedule IV) and the vacant plots of land (schedule V). Renewal of the schedules are “contentious” as it had raised a lot of heat and dust.

During his visit to Potka block of the district, chief minister Babulal Marandi had said the renewal of the land lease to Tata Steel under schedule IV and V had been delayed since there were “some disputes”.

Jharkhand High Court had directed the government to complete the renewal of the five schedules of the land to the steel major by December 2 when the next hearing of the case is scheduled to take place.

The steel major had moved court following the inordinate delay in the renewal of the land lease. The matter has been hanging fire since January 1, 1996. The erstwhile Bihar regime did precious little to renew the lease, despite the steel major applying for it in time, sources said.

Government sources said apart from Krishnan, the industries department secretary, revenue and land reforms secretary, revenue commissioner, finance secretary, divisional commissioner and the East Singhbhum deputy commissioner attended the meeting.

“We have sought the details of the schedule IV and V from the district administration,” sources said and added that the latter had been directed to furnish them at the earliest.

The details include the total area that have been sub-leased by Tata Steel and the area of the vacant land.

“The next meeting of the special committee would discuss in detail whether there had been any violation of the land lease agreement or not. But we are optimistic that the matter would be resolved by the deadline issued by Jharkhand High Court,” sources said.

Sources said the fate of over 86 slums of the city that have sprouted on the Tata Steel lease land area could also be decided during the next meeting.

“We might take up the issue in the next meeting,” sources said and refused to say whether these slums would be given ownership rights.

The joint physical survey by the district administration and Tata Steel authorities for the renewal of the first three schedules are still in progress.