New Delhi: The on Tuesday issued notices to the Centre and the state governments of Karnataka, Odisha and Jharkhand in an alleged Rs 6 lakh crore scam in the allocation of iron ore mines. A Bench of Justices S A Bobde and S Abdul Nazeer acted on a PIL by Delhi lawyer M L Sharma alleging huge corruption in the extension of leases to firms for more than 358 iron ore mines across the country.
The petitioner sought cancellation of all leases, urging the Court “to quash allotment/ extension/ continuation of more than 358 mines of iron ore and other minerals all over India,” asserting that the leases have been either granted or extended to the firms without any fresh evaluation and adoption of the auction process as directed by the Apex Court.
He pleaded that the loss caused to the exchequer should be recovered from the mining firms and their leases be quashed while putting all mines for fresh auction.
The PIL also sought the Court’s direction to the CBI to register an FIR and a court-monitored probe into the scam, alleging that the mines were allotted free of cost causing substantial financial loss to the public via a “concocted conspiracy.”
It also sought recovery of the market value of the ores already mined by the firms in accordance with the law.