New Delhi: Voicing concern over violation
of mining rules, Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia on Sunday suggested that there should be a price regulatory mechanism
for mineral exports as several private companies in the states
were flouting norms and depriving government of huge royalty.
Speaking at an international seminar on "Global
Environment and Disaster Management: Law and Society" here,
Kapadia said there should not just be a monitoring mechanism
incharge of appraisal of mining in India but also one for
pricing.
"Today, what we find, atleast for over a period of
last six years, that all mining plans are there but at the
state level they are being flouted for some reasons. I don't
want to go for the reasons but we do not have machinery to
supervise even those mining plants even for norms laid down
for environment protection," Kapadia said.
He insisted that the biggest problem in the mining
sector is the pricing of the minerals which are exported.
"Take the case of royalty. Time has come when the
excavated minerals should be auctioned or should have price
discovery mechanism. You have cross-border arms length pricing
but we do not have domestic arms length pricing. The result is
under invoicing," Kapadia said.
He maintained that minerals sold abroad went for a huge
profit margin because there is "no exemplar" to gauge ad
valorem prices when the excavated material is being exported.
He insisted that there is a huge difference between the
domestic prices and the price at which it is sold abroad.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, July 24, 2011, 19:57