While the Centre remains non-committal over ordering a CBI probe into the multi-crore mining scam in Orissa, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money, headed by former SC judge M B Shah, has asked the Orissa government to find out about eight mining leaseholders who mined iron ore without any environment clearance. The Shah commission’s report on Orissa mining scam said that between 1994 and 2012, eight leaseholders in Mayurbhanj district extracted 2.27 million tonnes of iron ore without forest and environment clearance. These leaseholders include Ghan-ashyam Mishra and Sons, Lal Trader and Agencies, B C Dagra, J K Choube, G S Choube, D C Dagra, Dinesh Chander Das and B K Das. Of them, Das mined a maximum of 4.85 lakh tonnes between 1994-95 and 2011-12. The mines were located in within a 10 km radius of the outer boundary of Simlipal National Park. None of the mining leases were approved by the Standing Committee of National Board for Wildlife. The panel in its report submitted in June last year recommended cancellation of the leases. In a letter to the Orissa government last month, SIT vice-chairman justice (retd) Arijit Pasayat asked the state to find out from chief commissioner of Income Tax in Bhubaneswar how these illegalities had been dealt with. The SIT asked the Central Board of Central Excise to find out if duties, along with penalty and interest, have been levied. Sources said the SIT is looking into possible cases of tax evasion by the leaseholders.
