Court annuls decision to revoke S. Sumatra coal license

The Palembang State Administrative Court has recently annulled a decision by the South Sumatra provincial administration to revoke the IUP mining business license of local coal miner PT Batubara Lahat.

The court made the ruling on June 8, Mongabay.com reported. The South Sumatra provincial administration plans to file an appeal.

The South Sumatra governor issued a decree on November 30, 2016, revoking the IUP mining business license of PT Batubara as the company had not pay financial obligations to the state properly, with unpaid obligations totaling Rp 27 billion. As such, the company is categorized to be in the list of ?non-clean and clear? (non-C&C) miners. According to existing regulation, the provincial administration holds the authority to revoke the IUP mining license of non-C&C miners as part of a wider campaign launched by the central government to clean up the country?s mining sector from the mess resulting from aggressive issuance of mining permits in the past by local administrations in the past.

The court argued that the issue of the non-tax financial obligations is the jurisdiction of the central government, not provincial government. It added that by revoking the mining license, PT Batubara would not be able to pay the unpaid financial obligations.

There are fears that the court case won by PT Batubara could trigger other mining firms facing similar problem to also launch lawsuit against the provincial administration which has revoked their IUP licenses. (*)