JSW STEEL LTD Vs. INDIAN BUREAU OF MINES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner no.1, a company registered under the Indian Companies Act, 1956, having its registered Office at JSW Centre, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra (East), Mumbai and one of its offices at Barbil in the district of Keonjhar, Odisha, has filed this writ petition through its authorized signatory- petitioner no.2 seeking following reliefs:

(2.) The factual matrix of the case, in brief, is that opposite party no.1-the Indian Bureau of Mines, which was established in the year 1948, as a multidisciplinary governmental organization under the Department of Mines, Ministry of Mines, Government of India, is engaged in the promotion of conservation, scientific development of mineral resources and protection of environment in mines other than coal, petroleum and natural gas, atomic minerals and minor minerals. Opposite party no.1 is also tasked with maintaining the National Mineral Inventory, and approving mining plans, closure of operations and the conservation of mineral material, as the national regulator for State Governments.

(3.) Dr. A.M. Singhvi and Mr. G. Jain, learned Senior Counsel appearing along with Mr. S.S. Mohanty, learned counsel for the petitioners urged before this Court that the impugned decision dtd. 12/1/2022, whereby the opposite party no.1 has proceeded to publish the revised/final ASP for September, 2021 and October, 2021 excluding the ex-mine prices of the petitioner-company, suffers from illegality, failure to follow due process of law, principle of natural justice, jurisdictional error and predetermined mindset, and thereby violates Articles 14 and 19 (i) (g) of the Constitution of India. He emphatically contended that the impugned decision and publication of ASP was issued without considering the replies dtd. 18/12/2021 and 27/12/2021 submitted by the petitioner-company, pursuant to show-cause notice dtd. 16/10/2021, and without passing any specific order thereon. It is further contended that the said fact has not been disputed by opposite party no.1-IBM in its counter affidavit. Interestingly, the decision to exclude ex-mine prices was made on the very same day, when the show cause notice was issued by opposite party no.1-IBM, i.e., on 16/10/2021. On the date of issuance of show cause notice, the opposite party no.1-IBM wrote a letter to the Director (Statistics) and in-charge MMS Division of the IBM, recommending that ASP of the State of Odisha may be calculated excluding the ex-mine price of the mines, namely, Jajang Iron Ore and Nuagaon Iron Ore, which itself shows predetermined mindset of IBM and renders the entire exercise an empty formality.