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2013 (4) TMI 954
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....sisted by Mansha Monga), Adv., Neelam Jain, A. Venkatesh, Siddhartha Chowdhury, Prashant Bhushan, Ramesh Kumar Mishra, Pranav Sachdeva (A.C.), K. Raghavacharyulu, D. Julius Riamei, Sanjeev Kapoor, Rajat Jariwal, Advs. for Khaitan and Co., Vikas Mehta, Ravi Shankar, Shubham Tripathi, P.V. Dinesh, S. Udaya Kumar Sagar, Bina Madhavan, Anindita Pujari, Advs. for Lawyer's Knit and Co., Devadatt Kamat, Sunil Dogra, Advs. for Lawyer's Knit and Co., Simar Suri, Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, K. Maruthi Rao, K. Radha, Anjani Aiyagari, K. Dheeraj Kumar, K. Subba Rao, G. Umapathy, R. Mekhala, Rakesh K. Sharma, Kiran Suri, K.N. Phanindra, S.J. Amith, Aparna Mattoo, Girish Ananthamurthy, Vaijayanthi Girish, Nakibur Rahman Barbhuiya, Vipin Gupta, Shashi Kiran Shetty, Sharan Thakur, Advs. for Sushil Balwada, Adv., Bhargava V. Desai, Shreyas Mehrotra, Naveen R. Nath, Lalit Mohini Bhat, Amrita Sharma, Darpan K.M., Sanjay R. Hegde, D.M. Rajesh, S. Nithin, Anil Kumar Misra, Kashi Vishweshwar, A. Sumati, Madhu Singh, Satya Siddiqui, S.K. Mishra, Asha Gopalan Nair, A. Dev Kumar, D.S. Mahra, Ranjana Narayan, B.K. Prasad, Mahesh Agarwal, Aparna Singhal, E.C. Agrawala, Sumant Bhardwaj, Manoj Kumar, Ajit ....
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....on) Act, 1980. (B) To issue a Writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction, directing as null and void retrospectively all 'raising contracts' / sub leasing because which are in violation of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 and initiate penal action against the violators. (C) To issue a Writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction, directing the stoppage of all mining along the border and in forest areas in the Bellary Reserve Forest till a systematic survey of both the interstate border and the mine lease areas along the entire border is completed by the Survey of India along with a representative of the Lokayukta of Karnataka. (D) To issue a Writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction, directing action against all the violators involved either directly or indirectly in illegal mining including those named in the Report of the Lokayukta of Karnataka (Part-I). (E) To issue a Writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction, directing the recovery of the illegal wealth accumulated through the illegal mining and related activiti....
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.....9.2011 in the course of which 122 cases were re-examined and necessary corrections were effected in 33 cases. Thereafter, the CEC submitted its Report termed as the "Final Report" dated 3.2.2012 which is significant for two of its recommendations. The first was for categorization of the mines into three categories, i.e., 'A', 'B' and 'C' on the basis of the extent of encroachment in respect of the mining pits and over burden dumps determined in terms of percentage qua the total lease area. The second set of recommendations pertained to the conditions subject to which reopening of the mines and resumption of mining operations were to be considered by the Court. A set of modified recommendations along with a set of detailed guidelines for preparation and implementation of Reclamation and Rehabilitation Plans (R & R) were also submitted to the Court by the CEC on 13.3.2012. Before the relevant extracts from the Reports of the CEC dated 3.2.2012 and 13.3.2012 are noticed, to make the discussion on the Report of the Joint Team complete it will be necessary to note that in terms of the order dated 10.2.2012 of the Court, 66 representations were considered by the ....
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....en found to be more than 15% of the lease areas and/or (ii) the leases found to be involved in flagrant violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act and/or found to be involved in illegal mining in other lease areas. The number of such leases comes to 49. RECOMMENDATIONS (as modified by CEC by its Report dated 13.3.2012. Items 1 to IV of the Report dated 3.2.2012 stood replaced by Items A to I of the Report dated 13.3.2012 which are reproduced below along with Items v. to XIV of the initial Report dated 3.2.2012). (A) the findings of the Joint Team and as modified after careful examination by the CEC may be accepted and directed to be followed by the concerned authorities and the respective leases, notwithstanding anything to the contrary. The boundaries of the mining leases should accordingly be fixed on the ground. (B) a ceiling of 25 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) for total production of iron ore from all the mining leases in District Bellary may be prescribed. A ceiling of 5 MMT for production of iron ore from all the mining leases in Districts Chitradurga and Tumkur together may be prescribed; (C) the proposed "guidelines for the preparation of t....
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....ing on annual production fixed for the lease does not exceed, (e) to ensure that the safety zone is maintained around the lease area and in respect of the clusters of mining leases around the outer boundary of such cluster of mining leases and (f) to ensure compliance of the other applicable condition/provisions. Any lease found to be operating in violation of the stipulated conditions/provisions should be liable for closure and/or termination of the lease; (H) the present Members of the Monitoring Committee should continue for a period of next two years; and (I) in the larger public interest the mining operations in the two leases of M/s. NMDC may be permitted to be continued. However, it will be liable to deposit penalty/compensation as payable for the mining leases falling in "Category-B" (V) In respect of the mining leases falling in "CATEGORY-B" (details given at Annexure-R-10 to this Report) it is recommended that: i) the R&R Plan, under preparation by the ICFRE, after incorporating the appropriate changes as per the directions of this Hon'ble Court, should be implemented in a time bound manner by the respective lessees at his cost. In ....
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....be cancelled/determined on account of these leases having been found to be involved in substantial illegal mining outside the sanctioned lease areas (b) the entire sale proceeds of the existing stock of the iron ore of these leases should be retained by the Monitoring Committee and (c) the implementation of the R&R Plan should be at the cost of the lessee; (VII) the area of the mining leases falling in the "Category-C", after cancellation of the mining leases may be directed to be allotted/assigned through a transparent process of bidding to the highest bidder (s) from amongst the end users. The floor price for this purpose should be fixed on the basis of the market value of the permissible annual production of the iron ore during the period of the agreements/lease period. The iron ore produced from such mines should be used for captive use only and no sale/export will be permissible. The detailed schemes in this regard should be prepared and implemented after obtaining the permission of this Hon'ble Court; (VIII) the mining leases owned by the M/s. MML should be operated by it. Alternatively, the agreements for mining operations and supply of the iron ore sho....
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.... the pending applications for grant of mining leases in Ramgad and Swamimalai Block in District Bellary and for which the NOC's were earlier issued will stand rejected; (XIII) the confiscated iron ore pertaining to the cancelled stock yards will be sold by the Monitoring Committee and the sale proceeds will be retained by the Monitoring Committee; (XIII) the Monitoring Committee may be authorized to sell low grade/sub grade iron ore to Cement Plants, Red Oxide and other similarly placed industries. It may also be authorized to supply iron ore required for construction of nuclear plants at the rates mutually agreed between the Monitoring Committee and the concerned authorities provided no middle man is involved; and (XIV) the Monitoring Committee may be authorized to utilize up to 25% of the interest received by it for engaging reputed agencies for the monitoring of the various parameters relating to mining. 6. As previously noticed, the CEC in its Report dated 13.3.2012 had set out in detail the objectives of the Reclamation and Rehabilitation (R&R) plans and the guidelines for preparation of detailed R & R plans in respect of each mining lease. Th....
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....s/prescriptions as dealt with hereunder: (A) REGARDING AREA FOUND BY THE JOINT TEAM TO BE UNDER ILLEGAL MINING 15. The area under illegal mining pits should be filled up with the existing over burden/waste dumps preferably the illegal dumps. Appropriate soil and moisture conservation measures will be provided and such areas will be afforested with indigenous species. 16. The reclamation and rehabilitation works will be carried out even if such areas are found to be having mineral reserves. 17. In respect of area under illegal over burden/waste dumps, wherever environmentally feasible the over burden/waste dumps will be removed and disposed of scientifically within the lease area of the encroacher. 18. In other cases, the illegal over burden/waste dumps will be stabilized by: (a) modifying the gradient of the lump (b) construction of retaining walls, (c) construction of gully plugs (d) construction of garland drains (e) geo-metric/geo-matting of dumps (f) afforestation, and (g) other soil and moisture conservation measures, 19. However, in respect of the mining pits f....
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....he shape and design of the mining pits differ substantially from those provided in the approved mining plan and /or found to be in gross violation of the approved design, mining will be permissible based on rectification as required by the concerned statutory authority (viz. DGMS). Similarly, gross violations under other Acts/Rules, if any, will need to be rectified (as required by the relevant statutory authorities). (E) SOIL and MOISTURE CONSERVATIONS, AFFORESTATION and OTHER MEASURES 26. The R&R plan would inter alia provide for: (i) broad design/specification for (a) garland drains (b) retaining walls (c) check dams (d) gully plugs and/or culverts (if required) (e) geo textile/geo matting of dumps (f) afforestation in the safety zones (g) afforestation in peripheral area, road side, over burden dumps and other areas (ii) dust suppression measures at/for loading, unloading and transfer points, internal roads, mineral stacks etc. (iii) covered conveyor belts (if feasible) - such as down hill conveyor, pipe conveyor etc. (iv) specification of internal roads, ....
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.... first step before consideration of any resumption of mining operations by Category-'B' leaseholders" would also be required to be specifically noticed at this stage. I. Compensatory Payment (a) Each of the leaseholders must pay compensation for the areas under illegal mining pits outside the sanctioned area, as found by the Joint Team (and as finally held by the CEC) at the rate of Rs. 5 crores per hectare, and (b) for the areas under illegal overburden dumps, roads, offices, etc. outside the sanctioned lease area, as found by the Joint Team (as might have been finally held by the CEC) at the rate of Rs. 1 crore per hectare. It is made clear that the payment at the rates aforesaid is the minimum payment and each leaseholder may be liable to pay additional amounts on the basis of the final determination of the national loss caused by the illegal mining and the illegal use of the land for overburden dumps, roads, offices, etc. Each leaseholder, besides making payment as directed above, must also give an undertaking to the CEC for payment of the additional amounts, if held liable on the basis of the final determination. At the same time, we....
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.... circumstances of the case, we have enhanced this payment to 15% of the sale proceeds. Here it needs to be clarified that the CEC/Monitoring Committee is holding the sale proceeds of the iron ores of the leaseholders, including the 63 leaseholds being the subject of this order. In case, the money held by the CEC/Monitoring Committee on the account of any leaseholder is sufficient to cover the payments under the aforesaid three heads, the leaseholder may, in writing, authorize the CEC to deduct from the sale proceeds on its account the amounts under the aforesaid three heads and an undertaking to make payment of any additional amount as compensatory payment. On submission of such authorization and undertaking, the CEC shall retain the amounts covering the aforesaid three heads and pay to the concerned leaseholder the balance amount, if any. It is expected that the balance amount, after making the adjustments as indicated here, would be paid to the concerned leaseholder within one month from the date of submission of the authorization and the undertaking. In the case of any leaseholder, if the money held on his account is not sufficient to cover the aforesaid three ....
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....lessees will be required to pay, if not already so done, compensation for the area under illegal mining pits, illegal over burden dumps, roads, offices etc. undertake to pay the additional compensatory amounts, if held liable, guarantee money for implementation of the R&R Plans and deposit of 15% of the sale proceeds of the existing iron ore sold by the Monitoring Committee; and (b) Before starting the mining operations the implementation of the R& R Plans for the areas found under illegal mining pits, illegal over burden dumps, etc. will be completed/nearing completion to the satisfaction of the Monitoring in the existing over burden dumps in and around the lease areas subject to the condition that such removal and sale is not likely to have significant adverse impact on the existing tree growth/vegetation and/or stability of the over burden dumps. The Monitoring Committee may be authorized to retain the entire sale proceeds in respect of the dumps located outside the sanctioned and presently valid lease areas for the purpose of transfer to the SPV for the implementation of the Comprehensive Environment Plan for Mining Impact Zone (CEPMIZ). Thus the CEC in its....
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....9;s orders for sale of the Iron Ore by the process of e-auction by the Monitoring Committee after recommencement of mining operations on the same terms and conditions and also the continuance of the SPV would be required to be considered by us. It would also be convenient to take note of the fact that as per the CEC's Report dated 15.2.2013 sale of almost the entire quantity of illegally extracted Iron Ore has been effected through the Monitoring Committee and the sub-grade Iron Ore lying in dumps in and around several lease areas may not have adequate commercial potential. Besides removal thereof for sale, in many cases, may also give rise to environmental problems in as much as removal of such dumps may constitute a hazard to the stability of the dumps which have been in existence for many years. Permission for sale of sub-grade iron ore, only when the same is commercially viable and removal thereof from the dumps is an environmentally safe exercise, has been sought by the CEC in its last Report dated 15.2.2013. We do not find any impediment in accepting the recommendations of the CEC in the Report dated 15.2.2013 in respect of removal and sale of sub-grade Iron Ore. Similarl....
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.... percentage of the alleged encroachment qua the total lease area is contended to be constitutionally fragile and environmentally self-defeating. A leaseholder with a more expansive lease area, inspite of committing a larger encroachment, may still fall below the percentage adopted as the parameter so as to place him in a more favourable category, say Category 'B', as compared to a small lease where the area encroached, though small, falls in a less favourable category, say "C" because the percentage of encroachment exceeds the prescribed parameters. The recommendation of the CEC with regard to categorization and the actions proposed on that basis as well as the suggested parameters for drawing up the R& R plans and the preconditions to be fulfilled by Category 'A' and 'B' leaseholders for recommencement of mining operations has also been assailed by questioning the credibility of the CEC as an institution and the prolonged continuance of its members which, according to the leaseholders, have the tendency of effectuating unbridled powers. 18. Relying on the provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act, 1957; Forest (Conservation) Act....
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....ions of Section 3(3) of the EP Act. Thereafter by a Notification dated 17.9.2002 published in the Gazette of India the constitution of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) for a period of 5 years was notified indicating its composition together with the extent of its powers and duties. It transpires from the Court's order dated 7.9.2007 that an issue with regard to the correctness of the extent of empowerment of the said body made by Notification dated 17.9.2002 was raised on behalf of the Union of India, whereafter, on the suggestions of the Attorney General for India, this Court by its order dated 14.12.2007 had determined the extent of powers of the CEC in the following terms: 1. In supersession of all the previous orders regarding constitutions and functioning of the Central Empowered Committee (hereinafter called the "Empowered Committee") is constituted for the purpose of monitoring and ensuring compliance with the orders of this Court covering the subject matter of forest and wild life and related issues arising out of the said orders. 2. The Committee shall exercise the following powers and perform the following functions: (i) to monitor the ....
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....ody has been performing such tasks as had been assigned by this Court by its orders passed from time to time. The directions on the basis of which the CEC had proceeded and had submitted its Reports are within the framework of the terms of reference of the CEC as determined by this Court by order dated 14.12.2007. Needless to say, acceptance of the recommendations made by the CEC on the basis of which orders of the Court are formulated is upon the satisfaction of the Court. We, therefore, close the issue by holding the contentions made to be wholly untenable. ISSUE No. 2 Exercise of jurisdiction under Article 32 /142 of the Constitution on the basis of the facts revealed by Reports of the CEC i.e. large scale damage to the forest wealth of the country due to illegal mining on an unprecedented scale vis-à-vis resort to remedies under the provisions of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 24. On the above issue the short and precise argument on behalf of the leaseholders is that the provisions of each of the statutory enactments, i.e., the MMDR Act, FC Act and EP Act prescribe....
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.... operating without violating the provisions of the MMDR Act and the FC Act. In an affidavit filed by the official Respondents in a writ petition registered and numbered as W.P. No. 14551/2010 before the Karnataka High Court it was stated that between November, 2009 and February, 2010 (i.e., within a period of four months) 35.319 lakh MT of illegal Iron Ore was received at Belekeri and Karwar ports, for movement of which for a period of about 4 months 2986 trucks were required to undertake the journey every day in both directions i.e., to the ports and thereafter back. 26. According to Shri Divan, the present is a case of mass tort resulting in the abridgment of the fundamental rights of a large number of citizens for enforcement of which the writ petition has been filed under Article 32. Shri Divan has submitted, by relying on several decisions of this Court, that in a situation where the Court is called upon to enforce the fundamental rights and that too of an indeterminate number of citizens there can be no limitations on the power of Court. It is the satisfaction of the Court that alone would be material. Once such satisfaction is reached, the Court will be free to devise its....
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....ions made by the CEC including closure of Category-"C" mines should not commend for acceptance of this Court. 28. In Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India and Ors. (1984) 3 SCC 161, this Court had the occasion to consider the nature of a proceeding under Article 32 of the Constitution which is in the following terms: 32. Remedies for enforcement of rights conferred by this Part. (1) The right to move the Supreme Court by appropriate proceedings for the enforcement of the rights conferred by this Part is guaranteed. (2) The Supreme Court shall have power to issue directions or orders or writs, including writs in the nature of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari, whichever may be appropriate, for the enforcement of any of the rights conferred by this Part. (3) Without prejudice to the powers conferred on the Supreme Court by Clause (1) and (2), Parliament may by law empower any other court to exercise within the local limits of its jurisdiction all or any of the powers exercisable by the Supreme Court under Clause (2). (4) The right guaranteed by this article shall not be suspended except as otherwise prov....
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....nferring on the Supreme Court power to enforce the fundamental rights in the widest possible terms shows the anxiety of the Constitution-makers not to allow any procedural technicalities to stand in the way of enforcement of fundamental rights. The Constitution-makers clearly intended that the Supreme Court should have the amplest power to issue whatever direction, order or writ may be appropriate in a given case for enforcement of a fundamental right. But what procedure shall be followed by the Supreme Court in exercising the power to issue such direction, order or writ? That is a matter on which the Constitution is silent and advisedly so, because the Constitution-makers never intended to fetter the discretion of the Supreme Court to evolve a procedure appropriate in the circumstances of a given case for the purpose of enabling it to exercise its power of enforcing a fundamental right. Neither Clause (2) of Article 32 nor any other provision of the Constitution requires that any particular procedure shall be followed by the Supreme Court in exercising its power to issue an appropriate direction, order or writ. The purpose for which the power to issue an appropriate direction, ord....
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....ry out his assignment objectively and impartially without any predilection or prejudice. Once the report of the Commissioner is received, copies of it would be supplied to the parties so that either party, if it wants to dispute any of the facts or data stated in the report, may do so by filing an affidavit and the court then consider the report of the Commissioner and the affidavits which may have been filed and proceed to adjudicate upon the issue arising in the writ petition. It would be entirely for the Court to consider what weight to attach to the facts and data stated in the report of the Commissioner and to what extent to act upon such facts and data. 30. In M.C. Mehta v. Union of India and Ors. (1987) 1 SCC 395, this Court not only reiterated the view adopted in Bandhua Mukti Morcha (supra) but also held that the power under Article 32 would be both injunctive as well as remedial and the power to grant remedial relief, naturally, would extend to a wide range of situations and cannot be put in a straight jacket formula. 31. M.C. Mehta v. Union of India and Ors. (2009) 6 SCC 142 is a case which would disclose a very proximate connection with the case in hand. In the af....
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....nder. That, this Court cannot exercise powers under Article 142 of the Constitution when specific provisions are made under various forest and environmental laws dealing with the manner and procedure for cancellation/termination of mining leases. 44. We find no merit in the above arguments. As stated above, in the past when mining leases were granted, requisite clearances for carrying out mining operations were not obtained which have resulted in land and environmental degradation. Despite such breaches, approvals had been granted for subsequent slots because in the past the authorities have not taken into account the macro effect of such wide-scale land and environmental degradation caused by the absence of remedial measures (including rehabilitation plan). Time has now come, therefore, to suspend mining in the above area till statutory provisions for restoration and reclamation are duly complied with, particularly in cases where pits/quarries have been left abandoned. 45. Environment and ecology are national assets. They are subject to intergenerational equity. Time has now come to suspend all mining in the above area on sustainable development principle which i....
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....er ignored by this Court, while making an order under Article 142. Indeed, these constitutional powers cannot, in any way, be controlled by any statutory provisions but at the same time these powers are not meant to be exercised when their exercise may come directly in conflict with what has been expressly provided for in a statute dealing expressly with the subject. 33. Even if the above observations is understood to be laying down a note of caution, the same would be a qualified one and can have no application in a case of mass tort as has been occasioned in the present case. The mechanism provided by any of the Statutes in question would neither be effective nor efficacious to deal with the extraordinary situation that has arisen on account of the large scale illegalities committed in the operation of the mines in question resulting in grave and irreparable loss to the forest wealth of the country besides the colossal loss caused to the national exchequer. The situation being extraordinary the remedy, indeed, must also be extraordinary. Considered against the backdrop of the Statutory schemes in question, we do not see how any of the recommendations of the CEC, if accepted, w....
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....dered by the Joint Team and personal hearing was afforded to 122 lease holders. On the basis of the said hearings, necessary corrections were made in respect of 33 number of leases. Thereafter, the final Report of the CEC dated 3.2.2012 was submitted to the Court. In terms of the Court's order dated 10.2.2012, the CEC again considered the representations filed by as many as 66 lease holders. The findings of the Joint Team in respect of 4 leases were modified by the CEC though the said modification did not result into any change of categorization. Two representations, one filed by M/s. V.S. Lad & Sons and another by M/s. Hothur Traders have been placed before the Court for appropriate orders [issue is being dealt with separately] whereas the rest of the representations were rejected by the CEC. In the above facts, procedural fairness in the process of survey carried out by the Joint Team is writ large and there can be no room for any doubt so as to question the sanctity of the survey process on the above stated ground. 35. This will require the Court to go into the details of the technical aspect of the survey which was conducted by the Joint Team. The consideration of the de....
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....ould be precisely measured. Thereafter survey was undertaken by use of the Total Station Method, which, undoubtedly, is the state of the art technology with room for negligible error. A temporary control point was identified keeping in view the visibility of the maximum number of boundary points from the identified control point. Thereafter, the distance between the control point and the visible boundary points were measured and recorded in the instrument which uses an infra-red ray. The instrument was shifted to another temporary control point and in a similar manner the distance between the said control point and remaining boundary points were measured. After completing the reading of all the points the margin of error for the instrument was determined (which was virtually negligible). Thereafter the data from the total station was downloaded on a computer using the autocad software for preparation of the survey sketch. The survey sketch so prepared was superimposed on the digitized lease sketch to ascertain the encroachment if any. Also, the details of the survey sketch was superimposed on the satellite imageries to further verify the correctness of the process of survey underta....
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....n prepared by ICFRE and approved by CEC and after successful completion and implementation of R&R Plan, they should be allowed to recommence mining operations in such leases. 39. We make it clear that we have not understood the above statement as an admission on the part of the Federation and it is on a consideration of the totality of the facts placed before us that we accept the findings of the survey conducted by the Joint Team constituted by the orders of this Court and the boundaries of each of the leases determined on that basis. We further direct that in supersession of all orders either of the authorities of the State or Courts, as may be, the boundaries of leases fixed by the Joint Team will henceforth be the boundaries of each of the leases who will have the benefit of the lease area as determined by the Joint Team. All proceedings pending in any court with regard to boundaries of the leases involved in the present proceeding shall stand adjudicated by means of present order and no such question would be open for re-examination by any body or authority. 40. Before proceeding to the next issue we would like to observe that the contention urged on behalf of some of th....
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....nvil of Article 14 and not on the subjective notions of availability of a better basis of classification. The basis suggested i.e. total encroached area has the potential of raising questions similar to the ones now raised on behalf of the lease holders. This is on account of the lack of uniformity in the areas covered by the different leases in question. The test, therefore, ought not to be what would be a 'better' basis for the categorization for that would introduce subjectivity in the process; the test is whether categorization on the basis adopted results in hostile discrimination and adoption of the criteria of percentage has no reasonable nexus with the object sought to be achieved, namely, to identify the lessees who have committed the maximum violations and damage to environment. Viewed from the aforesaid perspective, the categorization made does not fail the test of reasonableness and would commend for our acceptance. In this regard, we may take note of two IAs (IA. No. 74 of 2012 and I.A. No. 4 of 2012) filed by Federation of Indian Mineral Industries which body claims membership of a vast number of the lessees involved in the present proceedings. In the afore....
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....9;B' mines as well as the details of the R&R plans should be accepted by us, which we accordingly do. This will bring us to the most vital issue of the case, i.e., the future of the Category 'C' mines. 44. The precise extent of illegal mining that took place in the three districts of Karnataka have been noted in detail in an earlier part of this order (para 23). The same, therefore, will not require any repetition. Illegal mining apart from playing havoc on the national economy had, in fact, cast an ominous cloud on the credibility of the system of governance by laws in force. It has had a chilling and crippling effect on ecology and environment. It is evident from the compilation submitted to the Court by the CEC that several of the Category 'C' mines were operating without requisite clearances under FC Act or even in the absence of a mining lease for a part of the area used for mining operations. The satellite imageries placed before the Court with regard to environmental damage and destruction has shocked judicial conscience. It is in the light of the above facts and circumstances that the future course of action in respect of the maximum violators/pollute....
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.... (ML No. 2553) in Category "B" though the encroached area under illegal mining pits has been found to be 24.44% and 23.62% respectively. According to the CEC, it is on account of "the complexities involved in finalizing the survey sketches and in the absence of inter-village boundary" that the said leases have been placed in Category "B" instead of Category "C". We cannot agree with the tentative decision of the CEC. On the basis of the findings of the survey and the categorization made, both of which have been accepted by the Court by the present order, we direct that the aforesaid two leases, namely, M/s. S.B. Minerals and M/s. Shanthalakshmi Jayaram be placed in Category "C". Necessary consequential action will naturally follow. 49. The CEC in its Report dated 28.3.2012 has placed the cases of M/s. V.S. Lad & Sons and M/s. Hothur Traders (placed in Category "C") for final determination by the Court. The CEC has reported that the encroachment by M/s. V.S. Lad & Sons is only in respect of the overburden dumps and exceeds the percentage (15%) marginally, i.e., by 0.17% which could very well be due to the least count error used by the Joint Team. In so far as M/s. Hothur Traders ....
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....rough the Monitoring Committee will stand forfeited to the State. The Monitoring Committee will remit the amounts held by it on this account to the SPV for utilization in connection with the purposes for which it had been constituted. (9) M/s. V.S. Lad & Sons, M/s. Hothur Traders, M/s. S.B. Minerals (ML No. 2515) and M/s. Shanthalakshmi Jayaram (ML No. 2553) will be treated as "C" Category mines and resultant consequences in respect of the said leases will follow. (10) The operation of the 7 leases placed in "B" category situated on or nearby the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh inter-State boundary will remain suspended until finalisation of the inter-State boundary dispute whereupon the question of commencement of operations in respect of the aforesaid 7 leases will be examined afresh by the CEC. (11) The recommendations made in the paragraph VIII of the Report of the CEC dated 3.2.2012 (pertaining to M/s. MML, Pg. 57) is accepted. The recommendations made in paragraphs IX, X, XII (in respect of confiscated iron-ore) XIII and XIV of the said Report dated 3.2.2012 (Pg. 57-60) will not require any specific direction as the same have already been dealt with or the....
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....D 2434 10.12 10.03 10.14 0.11 MINING COMPANY 9 B.R. 2186 13.00 16.592 15.89 -0.70 YOGENDRANATH SINGH 10 LATHA MINING CO. 958 4.05 4 3.93 -0.07 (D. NARAYANA) 11 CANARA MINERALS 2635 11.34 12.12 11.52 -0.60 12 THANGA VELU & 2585 60.70 62.28 60.92 -1.36 OTHERS 13 TRADING MINING 1732 5.26 5.31 5.45 0.14 COMPANY 14 SRI. N. MANZOOR 1324/ 15.97 15.65 15.71 0.06 AHMED 2616 15 SMT KAMALA BAI 1442 13.45 13.02 13.44 0.42 16 SUDARSHAN SINGH 2579 8.09 8.37 8.11 -0.26 (MAHALAKSHMI MINERALS) 17 RAMGAD MINERALS 2451 24.28 24.23 24.04 -0.19 AND MINING PVT LTD 22222222 18 TRIDENT MINERALS 2315 32.27 31.606 32.43 0.82 19 20 21 ALLUM 2436 28.07 23.553 24.53 0.98 VEERABHADRAPPA KANHAYALAL 2563 30.76 28.73 30.09 1.36 DUDHERIA ADARSHA 2369 3.03 2.91 2.98 0.07 ENTERPRISES MATHA MINERALS 1975/ 129.5 125.5 129.16 3.66 2600 23 S.B. MINERALS 2393 40.....