The apex court on Thursday denied permission to the Vedanta Group to export iron ore mined in Karnataka, but approved the National Mineral Development Corporation's practice of dual pricing of the mineral, PTI reported. Responding to a plea by the Karnataka Iron and Steel Manufacturers' Association, the Supreme Court Bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi, declared that the state-owned NMDC can continue to decide on iron ore prices that may vary across the country.

However, responding to Vedanta Group's appeal to refer the case to the High Court for adjudication, the Supreme court declared that that it "doesn't find any reason to allow export of iron ore for now." The diversified natural resources group had contested a court-appointed monitoring panel's decision to disallow the company from exporting iron ore.

In July 2011, the apex court had ordered a ban on the mining of iron ore in Karnataka after claims surfaced that illegalities in the industry had led to widespread ecological damage. In April 2013, the court allowed mining to resume, but placed a yearly limit of 30 million tonnes and issued a ban on exports. Pleading to be allowed to export iron ore, Vedanta Group had claimed that there was an oversupply of iron ore in the state to the tune of six million tonnes, ANI reported.