Mine lease renewal issue row: A deliberate attempt to create confusion, says K'taka CM

Bengaluru, April 9 (IANS) Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, reacting to allegations of renewing mining leases and causing a loss of thousands of crores to the state, has asserted that there has been an ongoing attempt to create confusion regarding the issue of mine lease renewal.

In a statement on Wednesday, he remarked that such misinformation campaigns have persisted ever since he assumed office. CM Siddaramaiah has alleged that certain malicious forces have consistently attempted to mislead the Raj Bhavan.

Addressing the reports concerning eight mining companies, the Chief Minister stated: "Before 2015, the MMDR Act of 1957 allowed for the renewal of mining leases for a period of 20 years. Based on that provision, the government had granted conditional in-principle approval solely for obtaining forest clearance for lease renewal."

However, on January 12, 2015, the Central government amended the MMDR Act through an ordinance.

Following this amendment, a thorough review was conducted, and on February 9, 2015, it was determined that the conditional in-principle approvals granted to eight companies for mine lease renewal were not valid. These approvals were subsequently canceled, and the government was instructed to proceed according to the amended act, CM Siddaramaiah stated.

Later, the proposals submitted by the Mines Department for deemed lease extension were reviewed in accordance with legal procedures. Based on a Supreme Court directive, the state government cancelled one such case without considering a deemed extension, he stated.

For the remaining seven cases, deemed extension letters were issued with strict conditions — companies were required to submit statutory forest and environmental clearance documents, pay pending dues, and adhere to the final reports of investigations conducted by agencies such as the CBI and SIT, CM Siddaramaiah said.

"Out of these seven companies, two have not submitted the required legal clearances. Hence, no mining rights have been granted to them. Among the remaining five cases, three were granted mining lease rights during the BJP’s tenure in 2020 and 2021. The other two were conditionally granted deemed extension lease rights via supplementary lease deeds in 2016 and 2018. Therefore, in none of these eight cases has the government incurred any financial loss, and no iron ore has been extracted during this period, " CM Siddaramaiah stated.

Previously, opposition parties and individuals had lodged complaints about this matter with various agencies. All these complaints were dismissed due to lack of merit, he said.

The issue was also raised in the Assembly. On January 14, 2018, H.D. Kumaraswamy, who is now the Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Steel, even held a press conference on the subject, CM said.

However, there was no merit in any of these cases. All eight were handled in accordance with the provisions of the amended ordinance. Expired mining leases were later auctioned as per the rules, he stated.

After nearly a decade, there is now a politically motivated attempt to rake up this issue again, he maintained.

CM Siddaramaiah appealed to the people of the state not to fall for such malicious political conspiracies that aim to poison public opinion with baseless allegations.

Earlier, a complaint alleging corruption in mining contract renewals has been lodged with Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot on Wednesday, targeting Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

Ramamurthy Gowda, a social activist, filed the complaint, urging the Governor to sanction prosecution against CM Siddaramaiah in the case.

The development had gained significance as sources confirmed that Governor Gehlot, after hearing the complainant for three hours at the Raj Bhavan, has forwarded the complaint and documents related to the case to legal experts for their opinion. The Governor has also sought the opinion of the Solicitor General on the matter.

The complaint alleged that CM Siddaramaiah received kickbacks of approximately Rs 500 crore from the renewal of mining licenses for eight companies operating in the state. The complainant claims that during his first tenure in 2015, CM Siddaramaiah renewed the licenses of these eight mining companies instead of opting for auctions.

Gowda further alleged that CM Siddaramaiah's decision resulted in a loss of approximately Rs 5,000 crore to the state.

This amount would have been generated as royalty if CM Siddaramaiah had conducted auctions. Additionally, the complainant charges that licenses were renewed for companies under investigation in a mining scam.

--IANS

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