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Orissa Government to challenge High Court order

Staff Reporter

BHUBANESWAR: The Orissa Government will challenge the High Court order striking down the Orissa Rural Infrastructure and Socio-Economic

Development (ORISED) Act, 2004.

The Act, which came into effect in May this year, aimed at collecting mining cess on different minerals, ranging between 5 per cent and 20

per cent. ``We will challenge the order in the Supreme Court,'' the State Mines Minister, Padmanabha Behera, said.

A Division Bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Sujit Burman Roy and Justice M.M. Das on Monday struck down the Act dubbing it unconstitutional.

Several companies engaged in mining activities in the State had challenged the Act by filing petitions.

The petitioners, numbering 87, included the National Aluminium Company (Nalco), Mahanadi Coalfields Limited and Jindal Strips Ltd. The State Government had claimed that a major chunk of the revenue

generated from collection of cess under the Act would be utilised for the socio-economic development of the rural and tribal areas.

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