Bhubaneswar: Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Srikant Jena wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for withdrawal of the review petition filed by the Centre in the Supreme Court over its landmark judgement of allowing states to collect mining cess . Taking the opportunity of the PM’s visit to Odisha on Tuesday, Jena requested him through the letter to review petition submitted to the Supreme Court by the Union govt concerning the state’s prerogative to impose cess and taxes on mineral-bearing lands and minerals. The Union govt has lodged a petition with the SC, seeking a review of its seminal judgment delivered on July 25, 2024 and Aug 14, 2024.
This review petition runs counter to Odisha’s welfare, Jena’s letter reads. According to Jena, the SC verdict empowers states to levy taxes and cess on mineral-bearing lands and minerals. Subsequently, Odisha is poised to recover approximately Rs 1.
5 lakh crore in retrospective dues since 2005, commencing April 1, 2026 over a span of 12 years. He stated that the state can also generate approximately Rs 50,000 crore annually by imposing cess and taxes on future mining operations. This would provide an economic impetus to a state grappling with poverty and underdevelopment.
Notwithstanding its copious mineral wealth contributing substantially to the nation, Odisha persists as one of the most impoverished states and experiences the highest levels of labour migration. This review petition submitted by the Centre unde.