Apex court suspends 10 mining leases in Karnataka (Lead)
April 29th, 2011 - 8:18 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, April 29 (IANS) The Supreme Court Friday suspended 19 mining leases in Karnataka following a report of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) saying that the operators were involved in illegal mining.
The committee said these mines, located in Ramgadh area of Bellary district, had illegally encroached on forest areas.
The apex court’s forest bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia, Justice Aftab Alam and Justice K.S. Panicker Radhakrishnan said that the mining operations in respect of these 19 leases would immediately come to a halt and the extracted iron ore would not be allowed to be transported out.
Bellary, a mineral rich district, is about 300 km from Karnataka’s capital Bangalore and borders Andhra Pradesh.
The apex court-appointed committee, which assists the court in forest and environmental matters, said the 19 mines were involved in illegal mining.
The mines were identified in the first two parts of the voluminous report submitted by the CEC to the apex court April 15.
The court asked the CEC to move a special leave petition seeking transfer of cases related to mining companies which had moved the high court and were allowed to continue operations.
Most of these companies are in the list of 68 companies identified by the CEC in part three and four of the report. The court asked the panel to move the petition within a week.
Chief Justice Kapadia passed the order after he said that a situation can’t be allowed to prevail where a state high court permits mining and the Supreme Court bans it.
The court decided to hear the matter every Friday till the hearing was completed.
In a damning indictment of illegal mining in Karnataka, the CEC earlier said that it was taking place at a colossal scale and could be worth over Rs.150 billion.
“The extensive illegal mining in several states such as Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa pale into insignificance when compared to the illegal mining on colossal scale that has taken place in the state of Karnataka, particularly in district Bellary,” the panel said.
The CEC report on illegal mining came in the wake of a petition by an NGO.
- Supreme Court suspends 10 mining leases in Karnataka - Apr 29, 2011
- Colossal illegal mining in Karnataka worth Rs.150 bn: Apex court panel - Apr 15, 2011
- NGO seeks ban on mining in Karnataka, Andhra forests - Mar 30, 2011
- Supreme Court pulls up committee on Karnataka mine report - May 06, 2011
- Apex court asked to extend mining ban in Karnataka - Aug 19, 2011
- Supreme Court panel vetoes mining by Reddy brothers - Jan 07, 2011
- Apex court approves reclamation of Karnataka mines (Lead) - Apr 14, 2012
- Apex court approves reclamation of Karnataka mines - Apr 13, 2012
- Iron ore mining set to resume in Karnataka (Lead) - Jul 05, 2012
- Illegal mining by Adani, Jindal group to be probed: Apex court - Nov 18, 2011
- Apex court may ban mining in 3 Karnataka districts - Jul 15, 2011
- Apex court asks CBI to probe Karnataka illegal mining - Sep 23, 2011
- CBI probe recommended against Yeddyurappa kin (Lead) - Apr 20, 2012
- Supreme Court stops all mining work in Bellary - Jul 29, 2011
- Supreme Court bans mining in Karnataka's Tumkur, Chitradurga - Aug 26, 2011
Tags: aftab, apex, apex court, chhattisgarh, chief justice, colossal scale, environmental matters, forest areas, indictment, insignificance, iron ore, kapadia, madhya pradesh, mining companies, mining leases, orissa, panicker, radhakrishnan, rajasthan, voluminous report