Even as the BJP has been attempting to corner Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik over the alleged discrepancies in his statement of accounts and expenses submitted during 2014 assembly elections and the High Court is set to hear the matter on Thursday, a major relief has come for the state government as the Supreme Court has turned down a plea for a CBI probe into the mining scam in the state.
Besides, the apex court’s order that the mining lease holders will have to pay 100 per cent penalty to Odisha government for excess mining will prove to be a blessing for the state which has been facing a financial crunch.
The Justice M.B. Shah commission, appointed by the Centre had recommended CBI enquiry into the scam. The apex court refused to entertain the demand and ordered the mining companies to pay compensation for all illegal extraction since 2001. The SC was in fact endorsing the action by the Patnaik government which imposed a penalty of around Rs 60,000 crore on mining companies for illegal mining. The companies had challenged this in the court.
An empowerment committee appointed by the supreme court estimated that the price of iron ore and manganese extracted violating the law would be Rs 17,576 crore and miners should pay 30 per cent of it as penalty. The court, however, asked the companies to pay 100 per cent as penalty.
Director of mines Deepak Mohanty said the order of the Supreme court will be applicable on major minerals though immediate action is going to be taken in case of iron ore and manganese mining. The state government hopes to earn more revenue from other major minerals where excess illegal extraction has been done.
Patnaik has been facing the wrath of opposition and is engaged in a legal battle over the alleged discrepancies in his election expenses. The BJP, which moved the High Court against the CM over the issue, sought the expulsion of Patnaik from the assembly and demanded that he be banned from contesting elections for the next three years. The BJP has also approached the Central Board of Direct Taxes, seeking a probe into the alleged discrepancies in BJD’s poll spending.
The CM has dubbed the allegations as ‘malicious,fabricated and false’ and his party—the BJD— has threatened legal action against those who are trying to malign the party and their leader. Meanwhile, the BJD has alleged that the lone Lok Sabha MP from the state Juel Oram, who is also the Union tribal affairs minister, too had discrepancies in his last election expenses accounts.
An RTI activist, Subash Mohapatra, too had filed a petition in the court, alleging that Patnaik received Rs 13.10 lakh from his party. Mohapatra had told the court that BJD MP Ramchandra Hansda, now in jail in connection with chit fund scam, too received Rs 10 lakh from the party. He claimed that through an affidavit filed before Election Commission it came to be known that the serial number of cheques received by both these leaders were the same and noted that this cannot be possible. The state had simultaneous assembly and Lok Sabha elections in 2014. Patnaik had contested from Hinjili assembly constituency in Ganjam district, Hansda had contested and won from Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha constituency in Mayurbhanj district.
After Hansda was arrested in connection with the chit fund scam, the party suspended him. Debananda Mohapatra, who lost against the CM in the assembly elections too filed a case in the court, claiming that the income expenses submitted by separately by the CM and his party before the ECI do not match. He too demanded that the CM be expelled from the assembly. A similar petition was also filed by Ganjam district collector.
The Election Commission, however, opposed maintainability of both petitions in High Court saying there is a stipulated two-year period within which such petitions should be filed, but that time limit has lapsed. The ECI asked the court not to entertain the petitions as they were filed nearly three years after the elections. The commission also questioned the locus standi of Subash Mohapatra who is not from the CM's constituency.
A delegation of Odisha BJP has met the Election Commission and requested that the CM be disqualified and barred from contesting elections for the next three years. They also submitted a memorandum to the governor and other top authorities. The party pointed out that on May 16, 2014, Patnaik had filed an affidavit with Election Commission while on July 28 the BJD had filed another affidavit on the party chief's election expenditure and the two didn't match. Noting that the CM furnished incorrect and misleading information, the BJP demanded action against the CM under Representation of the People’s Act,1951
BJD spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Pratap Deb said, “Questions are being raised on a bank account that doesn’t belong to the BJD. The charges are baseless and (politically) motivated. The BJD's transactions are completely transparent.” He claimed that the party had issued a cheque to the State Bank of India with instructions to send money to different candidates, including the chief minister and added that everything is on record.
The CM said this is a campaign by the BJP to malign the image of the BJD. He claimed that the saffron party has suffered a setback in the recent zilla parishad byelection in BJP state president Basanta Kumar Panda's home turf Nawapara where the BJP was at a poor third behind the BJD and the Congress.
The saffron party performed poor in Nawapara despite the claim by Amit Shah that the BJP will form government in the state in 2019. The party had come in the second position in the zilla parishad polls held in February. Meanwhile, BJP president Amit Shah is set to visit the state next month for three days. The party chief is looking to revamp the party which has faced defeat in the local body byelections in Nawapara and Deogarh where BJD has emerged winner. Shah was in the state last month and had visited Ganjam in which the chief minister's Hinjili assembly constituency falls. The Nawapara poll, however, raises questions about the strength of the BJP in the state.
The BJP has threatened a statewide agitation over the poll fund issue.
Meanwhile, to counter the BJP's charges, BJD MP and senior advocate in Supreme Court Pinaki Mishra sought the resignation of Union minister Oram. Mishra and Rajya Sabha member Pratap Deb threatened to move the ECI over the issue.
BJD secretary Bijoy Nayak said the BJP and a particular national media was behind this false campaign against the party.
Oram, however, said he is ready to resign if he is found guilty and added that the CM should accept moral responsibility for furnishing false details and offer his resignation.
Congress party leader of opposition in the state assembly Narasingha Mishra said he had raised questions about BJD’s funds and election expenditure much earlier. Former PCC president Niranjan Patnaik said no party is clean when it comes to election and claimed that all political parties run on unaccounted money.
The youth Congress too has demanded a CBI probe into the allegations against the CM and Union minister Oram.