DHNS reported that the Supreme Court on Friday directed the Central Empowered Committee, its own experts panel, to apprise it of pre-conditions for allowing resumption of mining in ‘B’ category of mines in Karnataka’s Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur districts.

A three judge bench led by Justice Aftab Alam told senior counsel Mr Shyam Divan, appearing for the CEC, to file a written note mentioning all the pre requisites for resumption of mining in those leases on next Friday.

Divan, reading out the CEC report submitted in February, said that the leases falling in ‘A’ category were computed as 45, including the non-working leases where no marginal illegality has been found.

The category ‘B’ comprising 72 mining leases which were found to be involved in illegal mining by way of creating mining pits up to 10 per cent of the lease areas outside the sanctioned limit. The panel recommended that these leases could be allowed resumption of operation only after reclamation and rehabilitation works were undertaken satisfactorily and penalty was deposited by the lease holders.

The CEC had put the leases of iron ores into ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ categories based on the level of illegalities and irregularities allegedly resorted by them.

Source - DHNS

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