By IANS,
New Delhi/Bangalore : The Supreme Court Friday issued notice to Karnataka government on the report by the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) pointing to huge illegal mining of iron ore, worth Rs.15,245 crore, in the state, particularly in the mineral-rich Bellary district.
The apex court forest bench comprising Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia, Justice Aftab Alam and Justice K.S. Panicker Radahakrishnan was told by the court-appointed panel that from “year 2003-04 to 2009-10, as much as 304.91 lakh metric tones of iron ore was exported without valid permits”.
In 2009-10 alone, “71.28 lakh metric tones, out of 304.91 lakh metric tones (of iron ore), was illegally exported”, the court-appointed CEC said in its report.
Pointing to the “massive scale” of illegal mining going on in Karnataka, the court was told that in monetary terms it comes to a whopping Rs.15,245 crore.
The court fixed the next date of hearing for April 21 as amicus curiae Harish Salve wanted an early hearing so that an interim order could be passed to contain the largescale illegal mining.
In a damning indictment of state officials colluding in the illegal mining activities, the CEC said, “during the last nearly nine years of the existence of CEC, it has dealt with number of cases involving illegal mining such as in Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgrah and Orissa. In many of these cases, the extent of illegal mining was found to be quite extensive.
“However, all these cases pale into insignificance when compared to illegal mining on colossal scale that has taken place in the Karnataka, particularly in Bellary and that too with an active connivance of the officials of the concerned departments and also public representatives”.
The apex court set up the CEC in February following a petition by a not-for-profit organisation, Samaj Parivartan Samudaya, saying that illegal mining was rampant in Karnataka even in reserved forest areas.
The Samudaya said illegal mining had led to encroachment of over 1,100 hectares of forest land in Karnataka.
As the CEC gave its report to the apex court, a well-known freedom fighter in Karnataka, H.S. Doreswamy filed a petition in the high court in Bangalore for a probe by a central agency into illegal mining in the state.
Doreswamy, 91, said in his public suit that the state government has failed to stop illegal mining and a probe by a central agency like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was necessary to bring out the truth.