Odisha High Court lets Vedanta participate in NALCO alumina sale tender

The Odisha High Court has reportedly granted permission to the mining giant Vedanta to participate in the tender floated by state-run navaratna company NALCO for sale of surplus alumina. This judgement from the Odisha High Court is expected to provide a major relief to Vedanta.

The aluminium major reasoned that NALCO annually exports over 1.2 million tonnes of alumina after feeding domestic smelters at Angul. So, if some of its portions come to Vedanta, it can plan for production at full capacity.

Anil Agarwal’s company also noted that procuring alumina from NALCO would also result in saving about 20 dollars per tonne towards the logistics cost.

To their relief, the HC in its ruling on Tuesday stated, “We declare that petitioner No.1 (Vedanta) should be considered eligible to participate with all prevailing conditions of the tender.”

The court ruled that industry or the commercial establishment situated in Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is a foreign entity by legal fiction. This means a sale to SEZ units would be considered as exports and Vedanta will thus be eligible on technical grounds, the court said.

The order also stated that “if Vedanta is allowed to purchase from NALCO, then the raw material can be used within India serving the purpose of ‘Make in India’. Further, for all practical purposes, an SEZ cannot dispose of the goods at the local market thus the apprehension of competition put forward by NALCO also stands redundant.”