NDTV | Updated On: November 06, 2012 21:08 (IST)
New Delhi: The Supreme Court today slammed the Odisha government for favouring Posco over others in granting prospective licence for Kandahar mines.

Geomin, geological and mineral resource management services provider, had alleged that the state government overlooked other companies including Jindal steel and chose Posco. The company challenged the state’s govt decision in Orissa High Court, which in 2010 cancelled the prospective license (PL) for Posco and asked the state government to reconsider all applications all over again.

Unhappy with the HC ruling that stopped short of granting the license to it, Geomin moved the supreme Court, which began hearing the appeal today.

Geomin said it had applied for the license in 1991, while Posco sought it only in 2005. On the other hand, the Odisha government contested in the court that Posco was the best among all applicants.

Hearing the plea, the Supreme Court observed: “Is it the way of assessing comparative merit? These are great natural resources. Their best use must be ensured. Merely because someone is big, other players can’t be disallowed. That means no one else can play. The big will become bigger and the bigger, (become) biggest. The ‘big’ factor has influenced the entire decision-