Ola had made hectic efforts to secure the Ramandurg mines for the MMTC, which is under the commerce ministry — a move that was firmly opposed by his then secretary Shantanu Consul.

“The Karnataka government was not in favour of granting the leases to the MMTC as several court cases were pending on it, while the steel ministry’s PSUs National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) and Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited also objected to the proposal to reserve Ramandurg mines for the MMTC. We took up the matter with the administrative ministries of the PSUs and after taking into account all the issues, we have decided not to process the reservation case for the present,” a mines ministry official said.

The controversy on reserving the mines for MMTC had kicked up a ruckus as Ola as a minister in the previous UPA government had decided in September 2008 to approve the proposal of MMTC seeking allocation of 1503 hectares.

Ola understandably told the PMO that the Karnataka government was duly consulted and was told that the entire area had not been granted.

The notification by the Karnataka government inviting applications for granting of mining leases from interested parties was quashed by the state high court, he pointed out.

The minister had held his former secretary Shantanu Consul responsible for “referring the matter back by raising irrelevant queries without appreciating facts on record.” He also accused Consul of referring the matter to the Cabinet secretary in “an incomplete file and with muddled facts.” He pooh-poohed the claims of NMDC for the said mine arguing that, “at no point of time NMDC applied for reservation of the said area earlier. In fact NMDC never approached me for this claim. Therefore there is no reason for NMDC to approach the Committee of Disputes. It may be advised to apply for fresh areas…”

The PMO had asked Ola to refrain from taking any decision in this connection till the completion of the Lok Sabha elections in May. It had pointed out that the then steel minister had sought that the interests of NMDC and Kudremukh Iron should not be ignored in the matter.