Ahead of the Supreme Court appointed Central Empowered Committee team's visit to the district to inspect 99 mines, Karnataka Government has transferred Zilla Panchayat CEO N Muthaiah.

Official sources said Mr Muthaiah handed over charge to District Deputy Commissioner Amlan Biswas.

Sources said that the state had given an undertaking before the Supreme Court to move out some of the officials who allegedly helped mine owners in illegal mining.

Mr Muthaiah, prior to his appointment as Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer had worked as Deputy Conservator of Forests in the district and had been accused of helping mining magnets and Reddy brothers.

The CEC team is likely to visit the district as per the Supreme Court order shortly.

To curb large scale illegal iron ore mining in Bellary-Hospet forest region of the state, the Supreme Court had on May 6 formed a team to conduct a survey and demarcate boundaries of 99 iron ore mines.

(Sourced from PTI)