The Rajasthan high court, in its far reaching order, has held that the cancellation of the letters of intent (LOI)  issued to the miners by the mining department was invalid and all the 601 LOIs that were  cancelled should be restored.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

The state government’s mining department issued an order on October 17, 2015,  cancelling all the LOIs that caused much hardship to the mining operators.

Justice Nirmaljit Kaur’s order caused ripples in the state mining industry as it affected a large number of mining companies. Those affected were Shree Cement, Wonder Cement, Dalmia Cement and Ultratech who were mega producers of cement in the state.

The state government, following the disclosure of a mega bribe in the mining department in September 2015, cancelled all the 601 LIOs. The Union mines ministry also found that all the LOIs issued between October 31, 2014 and January 12, 2015, were invalid. 

The mining operators moved to the High Court against this order of the mining department and there were 143 petitioners. The High Court in its order has directed that all the LOI should be reviewed on merit and the LOI should be issued soon.