The Supreme Court has allowed Odisha to request the Orissa High Court Chief Justice to assign all mining dues recovery cases to a special bench for quick disposal. The Court said public revenue is at stake and asked the High Court to decide the matters by March 31, 2026.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India has given the Odisha government permission to approach the Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court and request that all cases related to recovery of dues from defaulting mining lessees be assigned to a special bench for quick disposal.
A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih noted that many petitions are still pending before the High Court, where the recovery orders issued by the state have been challenged and stays have been granted.
Because these cases involve a large amount of public money, the Supreme Court said,
“Since public revenue to a substantial extent is involved, we grant liberty to the state of Odisha to move an application before the chief justice of the Orissa High Court by December 19, 2025, with a request to assign all such petitions to a dedicated bench for final disposal within March 31, 2026.”
The bench also said that if the High Court cannot finish all matters by March 31, 2026, then at least the interim relief granted earlier should be reconsidered.
The Court added that
“if the pleas are not decided finally by March 31, at least the prayers made by the state for vacation/alteration/modification of such interim orders may be considered by the dedicated bench.”
The Supreme Court was hearing an application related to recovery of dues that arose after illegal mining violations. The bench has now posted the matter for further updates in the week starting April 6, 2026.
Earlier, on October 29, the Court had criticised the Odisha government for the way it was handling the process of recovery from mining companies that had violated norms.
During the hearing, advocate Pranav Sachdeva, appearing for the applicant, pointed out that several recovery cases have been stayed by the High Court.
The state counsel informed the Court that a total of 19 certificate cases are currently pending. Another lawyer in the matter said that the dues were originally required to be paid by December 31, 2017.
Taking note of these facts, the bench said,
“We will grant liberty to the state of Odisha to move the chief justice of the Orissa High Court to assign these cases to a dedicated bench for an early disposal of the main matter or vacation of stay.”
The Court also clarified that in cases where there is no stay from the High Court or any other court, Odisha should continue with the recovery process as per law.
It directed the state to submit a fresh status report by April 2. Over the years, the Supreme Court has passed multiple orders regarding illegal mining activities and recovery of dues.
The Court had earlier been informed through a state affidavit about the progress in recovering the compensation amounts, the actions taken by the authorities, and the status of cases where the High Court had set aside recovery orders.
The affidavit stated,
“Periodical follow up is done in respect of the action contemplated to be taken against the defaulting lessees and earnest effort is being made to recover the amount demanded as compensation.”
Last year, the Court noted that as per the February 7, 2024 affidavit, Odisha had recovered ₹2,745.77 crore (excluding interest) from the mining lessees.
These recoveries relate to the Supreme Court’s landmark August 2017 judgment, which directed recovery under Section 21(5) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.
The Court had held that mining leaseholders must pay compensation for illegally extracting minerals without required clearances or by exceeding the permitted limits.
The compensation was to be recovered for violations committed on or before December 31, 2017. The 2017 judgment was delivered in response to a 2014 petition that highlighted the issue of widespread illegal mining in Odisha.
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