Odisha government said it would not be possible to clear all the applications for renewing mining leases by June 15 in view of the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) on February 1, 2013.
Therefore, the state government, at an inter-departmental meeting, decided to request the High Court to give more time for clearing these applications. The state government received 323 applications for mine lease renewal.
According to the MoEF guideline, all the operating mines must have full forest diversion clearance in order to get renewal of mine lease permission. Of the 59 operational mines in the state, 55 have partial forest diversion clearance.
In its December 21, 2012 order, the High Court asked the state government to dispose of all the applications pending for renewal of mining leases within three months. However, the government sought three more months to clear the pending applications by June 15.
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