Supreme Court Dismisses Vedanta’s Appeal Against Goa’s Iron Ore Mining Auction

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed an appeal filed by Vedanta Ltd, which sought to restrain the Goa government from resuming the e-auction for the iron ore mining lease in Curpem and Sulcorna Mineral Block-XI. Vedanta also sought a direction for the state’s mines department to issue it the preferred bidder award and subsequent letter of intent for the iron ore mining block.

A Bench led by Justice Abhay S. Oka refused to interfere with the February 4 judgment of the Bombay High Court, which allowed the Directorate of Mines and Geology to proceed with further bidding in the auction of Curpem & Sulcorna Mineral Block-XI (South Goa). The apex court stated that this was not a “fit case for interference” considering the High Court’s findings.

Vedanta had challenged the Directorate’s decision to resume the auction for Curpem and Sulcorna Mineral Block-XI after it had emerged as the highest bidder and the e-auction had concluded on November 14. The company sought to restrain the state government from recommencing bidding and annulling the e-auction, arguing that another bidder, Agravanshi Pvt Ltd, had cited a glitch in the auction e-platform to request the resumption.

Senior counsel Huzefa Ahmadi and counsel Ninad Laud, representing Vedanta, argued that the glitch was on Agravanshi’s end and that the auction should have been closed. Vedanta claimed that the decision for further bidding was influenced by Agravanshi, who cited a “server error” during the eight-minute period allotted to it to better Vedanta’s bid. The company stated that MSTC, the e-platform operator, had rejected Agravanshi’s claim.

Vedanta alleged that the Directorate allowed Agravanshi to improve on its bid without any objective, cogent, or scientific data from MSTC to support a technical error. The company argued that the Directorate’s decision to resume the e-auction was based solely on MSTC’s view.

In August of the previous year, the state government had issued a notice inviting tenders for the grant of mining leases for three identified iron ore blocks: Onda Mineral Block X (North Goa), Curemp & Sulcorna Mineral Block-XI (South Goa), and Codli Mineral Block-XII (South Goa). The current dispute pertains to the auction of Curpem & Sulcorna Mineral Block-XI (South Goa).

During the bidding process on November 14, Agravanshi encountered a server error on the MSTC portal, which delayed its access to the site after the auction had concluded. The Technical Evaluation Committee of the Directorate of Mines and Geology decided on November 19 to allow the resumption of the auction, a day after Vedanta had requested the issuance of the preferred bidder award and letter of intent.

Since Vedanta was not declared the ‘preferred bidder’, it approached the High Court, which rejected its plea on the grounds that the Goa government’s decision to resume the auction was neither arbitrary nor unreasonable.