Cuttack/Bhubaneswar, Oct. 14: Orissa High Court has called for records related to the Odisha Mining Corporation’s handing over 74 per cent stake to Sainik Mining and Allied Services Ltd, a private company, from the coal block allotted to it by the Centre.

Acting on a petition of Sainik Mining, the division bench of Chief Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice B.K. Mishra issued notices to the state government and the corporation. It has also called for the records related to the joint venture agreement and asked the matter to be listed for hearing after the Puja vacation. On Friday, the petition came up for hearing.

Advocate Jayant Das submitted preliminary arguments on behalf of Sainik Mining and contended that cancellation of the pact was illegal as the company had agreed to enhance the corporation’s equity share to 51 per cent.

In another development, a PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court over the joint venture agreement that was signed by the corporation with Sainik Mining. The petition demanded a CBI probe into the deal, citing violation of the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973, by conceding controlling stake to a private party for developing a coal block allotted to a PSU.

On the other hand, the state government has begun initiating steps to streamline the mining operations, especially in cases of the renewal of mining leases. The government, which has come under criticism for not renewing mining leases and allowed operation under the deemed clause for years together, has asked the director of mines to furnish a list of all leases awaiting renewal with all details to the government by October 18.

Under the “deemed extension”, a mine owner can operate a mine without renewing his licence. Under the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act, a licence for a lease should be renewed if the conditions linked to the licences are met.

In the state, of 21 chromite mines, 10 are functioning under the deemed clause. Similarly, 83 of 107 iron ore mines and 53 of 71 manganese mines ones are operating under the deemed clause.

Earlier, BJP leader Bijoy Mahapatra had written a letter to Naveen, asking him to “come clean” on the deal while Union minister of state for chemicals and fertilisers Srikant Jena, too, came down heavily on the government for the project.

The coal ministry allocated a coal block (Utkal-D, having a reserve of 145MT at Talcher) to the corporation on December 19, 2003 to enable it to set up a power plant. But, the corporation transferred it to Sainik Mining on December 29 of the same year by entering into a joint venture with the company. While the Sainik Mining stakes in the venture were 74 per cent, the corporation’s share was 26 per cent.

In July 2010, the coal ministry issued a showcause notice to the corporation for violating the act. Following the controversy, the corporation cancelled the agreement with Sainik Mining.

In another development, steel and mines secretary Rajesh Verma said the director of mines that renewal of the mining lease would be done keeping in the interest of mineral development. Besides, the state government, while renewing mining leases for captive use, will limit the area of the lessees to meet their requirement for 30 years and the balance area will be reserved for the state-run corporation.

The mining lease would mainly serve the purpose of the captive use only. “No mineral shall be put to non-captive use as any such use will amount to violation of the lease condition,” the letter stated.