Supreme Court stays operations of 19 Karnataka mines
29 Apr 2011
The Supreme Court today restrained 19 mining lease holders in the Bellary-Hospet region of Karnataka from carrying out all mining activities, including transportation of extracted iron ores, till further orders.
A special forest bench consisting of Chief Justice SH Kapadia, Justice Aftab Alam and Justice K S Radhakrishnan, also said it would pass an order on another 68 mines, which have been indicted by the Central Empowered Committee for violating rules.
The SC order comes after the Central Empowered Committee (CEC), appointed by the apex court found large-scale illegal mining in the Bellary forest area.
"We make it clear that there would be no mining or transportation of mined materials (in 19 mines) till further order," the SC bench said while passing an interim order.
Of the 68 remaining lease holders, around 30 have got some interim orders from the Karnataka High Court. The SC said it would decide on them after the CEC files transfer petition against those firms here.
"There cannot be two parallel orders, one allowing to mine and the other to stop. We would have to call all of them and asked to vacate," the bench said.