Odishatv Bureau

Bhubaneswar/New Delhi: The mine leaseholders who have failed to pay their stipulated penalty by December 31 will now have to pay the amount along with interest, ordered the Supreme Court today.

The defaulter mining leaseholders will have to pay the penalty along with 12 percent interest, stated the apex court and has instructed the Industrial Development Corporation of Odisha Limited (IDCOL) to collect the amount.

The court has further ordered the State Government to continue collection of penalty from the defaulters and to confiscate their property if needed.

The order was passed based on the status report submitted by the State government on fine collected till December 31 to the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) appointed by the SC.

"The lessees paid nearly Rs 8,200 crore till December 31 to the State Government. 44 mining leaseholders have not paid the penalty till date. The State informed the court that few more leaseholders have paid after December 31 and till date Rs 10,189 crore has been collected. In case of the 44 leaseholders, the court has ordered the State Government to take coercive action against them and confiscate their assets if needed for recovery," said Supreme Court Advocate Naveen Kumar.

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