Illegal mining enquiry agency M B Shah Commission would take more time to submit the preliminary report on Odisha because of complexities involved in investigation of mining lease records.

The commission, which has already stated that it might come for third time to complete verifications all the lease deeds of iron and manganese mines of the state, said that an interim report is not possible without complete investigation.

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday refused to grant bail to IFS officer S. Muthaiah and retired Deputy Director of Mines and Geology Department S.P. Raju, accused in the illegal mining case against the former Minister G. Janardhan Reddy-owned Associated Mining Company (AMC).

Justice H.N. Nagamohan Das passed the order while holding that the court cannot brush aside the apprehension of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the case, that the accused may tamper with the witnesses and also hamper further investigation if enlarged on bail.

The state government has formed a 12-member committee to expedite the process of mining lease renewal, the applications for some of which have been pending for over 10 years.

The decision to form the committee follows a recent resolution of the state government, which decided that henceforth, mines meant only for mineral development would be applicable for renewal of lease.

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has informed the Centre that areas having coal deposits should be allocated only to the government companies under the control of host coal bearing state.

Seven coal blocks that had been allocated to the Maharashtra state government in 2006, together accounting for more than 4,000 million tonnes of coal reserves, remain unoperationalised six years la

The team has so far completed investigating records of 65 mines and is expected to verify about 20 odd papers

The five member team of Justice M B Shah Commission of enquiry, which has been in Odisha since October 3 to probe illegal mining, has detected massive irregularities during scrutinisation of mining records and other documents. Most of the irregularities include conducting mining operation without statutory clearances such as forest and environment.

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has informed the Centre that areas having coal deposits should be allocated only to the government companies under the control of host coal bearing state.

Once feted for being India’s highest taxpayers, miners are the new untouchables in town.

Mumbai London-listed Vedanta’s iron ore mining arm in India, Sesa Goa, is likely to produce only a third of its fiscal 2012-13 production target of 15 million tonne from Goa as the company faces a lengthy spell of non-production in the state.

In September, the Goa government first announced a ban on iron ore mining due to environmental concerns raised by the Justice MB Shah commission. However, on October 5, the Supreme Court extended the ban for a further one month till the Central Empowered Committee submitted its report.

Nine private miners are likely to lose their mining leases in the state following a recent decision of the steel & mines department to cancel all applications for renewal of leases made between 1987 and 1994.

The department on Saturday had decided to bring such leases back to the fold of the state government against the backdrop of an ongoing probe into alleged large scale illegal mining activities in the state by the visiting M B Shah commission of enquiry.