Cuttack, April 11: Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) has won a legal battle against the state government that had disallowed transportation of the company’s 5,29,979MT iron ore stock out of the Thakurani mines in Keonjhar district.

JSPL had been purchasing run-of-mine iron ore from Sarada Mines (P) Limited that had a leasehold area in Thakurani

Block- B iron mines in Barbil. Mining operations by Sarada Mines (P) in the leasehold area was stopped from April 1, 2014, due to expiry of environmental clearance.

Thereafter, the director of mines turned down JSPL’s application to allow transportation of its iron ore stockpile out of the company’s crusher site in the leasehold area on June 26, 2014. Subsequently, JSPL’s group CFO & director K. Rajagopal had filed a petition seeking the high court’s intervention against the order.

The high court on Friday ruled in favour of JSPL, which had sought permission to transport 29,977MT calibrated lump iron ore and 500,000MT iron ore fines from their stock to their pellet plant at Deojhar in Keonjhar district.

JSPL had cited limited stock of iron ore fines at the pellet plant, claiming that delay in transportation of processed ore will result in closure of operations of the plant.