Illegal mining: SC doesn`t entertain Karnataka miners` plea

A vacation bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain the plea of iron and steel manufacturers of Karnataka that the miners in the state should be allowed to mine iron ore.

New Delhi: A vacation bench of the Supreme
Court on Tuesday refused to entertain the plea of iron and steel
manufacturers of Karnataka that the miners in the state should
be allowed to mine iron ore till the pannel appointed by it
conducts a survey and finds violation of the mining lease.

A vacation bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and
Chadramauli Prasad declined to entertain the plea of the
Karnataka Iron and Steel Manufacturer`s association on the
ground that the matter was heard by a special forest bench
headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia.
"It is before a special three-judge bench. We have
nothing to do in this matter," the bench said and asked the
petitioners to approach the special forest bench which would
sit in July.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the
steel producers, submitted before the bench that as per the
apex court`s order of May 6, the joint team has to first
survey the area of mining and then issue stop notice after
finding encrochment.

On May 6, the apex court had directed formation of a
special team to conduct a survey and demarcate the boundaries
of 99 iron ore mines. As per the order, the team was to
conduct a survey and demarcate the leased mines and if any
encroachment was found, the mining in the entire leased area
would stop.

The joint team had representatives of the Forest
Department and the Mines and Geology Department of Karnataka
governmenmt, Lokayukta and the court-appointed Central
Empowered Committee (CEC)
However, according to the Association, some of its
suppliers had got notices from the Mining & Geology Department
of Karnataka for conducting survey in accordance with the
directions of the Supreme Court.

"In terms of the notice received by the mining lease
holders from the mines department, the mining lease holders
have been directed to stop all mining operations prior to the
conduct of survey," the Association said in its plea seeking a
clarification on the May 6 order passed by the apex court.

"Most of the applicant suppliers have been forced to shut
down their mines despite the directions of the mining
department being squarly contrary to the order of May 6 of
this court, as the order contemplated stoppage of mining
activity after conduct of the joint survey and not prior to or
during the joint survey," it said.

They further contended that the steel producers of the
state will have to shut down their operations as they are now
facing shortage of iron ore.

The Association has alreay been impleaded as a respondent
by the apex court in this matter, on its request.

The apex court had on May 6 admitted the two reports
filed by the CEC and directed the joint team to visit the site
of all the 99 mines to carry out demarcation.

"If that team comes to the conclusion that there has been
illegal mining in the area outside the demarcated leased
boundary, lessee (miners) shall stop mining not only in its
encroached area but in the entire lease area," the bench had
said.

The bench had said the 68 mines, which were identified by
the Lokayukta of the state for encroachment of their mining
leases into the reserve forest needs to be verified.

The apex court had further said if any miner, which is
directed by the joint team to stop mining after finding
encroachment beyond the leased area, would approach it in
July when the court reopens after the summer vacation.

On April 29, the court had restrained 19 mining lease
holders in the region from carrying out mining activities,
including transportation of extracted iron ores, till further
orders.

The court had restrained the miners acting on two reports
of the court-appointed CEC which had found largescale illegal
mining in Bellary Forest area.

Some of the firms among the 19 mining lease holders
are SB Minerals, Muneer Enterprises, Trident Minerals, Veeyam,
Adarsha Enterprises, Sparkline Mining, VSL mining Co,
Kathikeshwar Mining & Iron Ore and Mithra Mineral Enterprises.

NGO Samaj Parivartan Samudaya had alleged the governments
of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh had failed to stop the rampant
illegal mining of iron ore, which adversely affected the
livelihood of local people, especially the rural poor.

It had alleged that illegal mining had resulted in "an
encroachment of 1,114.8 hectares of forest land in Karnataka."

It had said "the Union of India, through both the
Ministry of Environment and Forest and the Ministry of Mines,
has not exercised enough checks and balances to curtail
illegal mining in the two states."

The NGO had submitted that the Lokayukta report had
highlighted that forest area to the extent over 2,000 sq kms
was available for mining by private entities despite specific
objections raised by the Forest Department.

PTI

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