The Supreme Court on Monday admitted a public interest litigation (PIL) on contentious joint venture pact between the state-owned resource company Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and Delhi-based Sainik Mining & Allied Services Ltd (SMASL) for raising of coal from a block allotted to the former.

In the PIL the petitioner has demanded cancellation of the coal block and CBI probe into the joint venture agreement, where OMC has conceded controlling 74 per cent stake to SMASL. The formation of the JV, named Kalinga Coal Mining (Private) Ltd, is in blatant violation of Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act-1973, the petitioner argued.