Environmental Laws:
Mines and Minerals – Iron Ore – Illegal Mining – Sale of iron ore extracted illegally in the districts of Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur of Karnatataka – Direction by this Court to sell the existing stock of iron ore extracted through illegal mining, through the process of e-auction conducted by the monitoring committee – Thereafter, numerous orders passed – Applicants then sought permission to sell the unsold stock of iron ore already excavated without resorting to process of e-auction and for the lifting the ban on export of iron ore/pellets from the said districts – Held: Records reveal that e-auction process have not borne any fruitful results and large stock of iron ore is lying unused – Earlier orders were passed on account of the rampant illegal mining that took place before the blanket ban was imposed – Accordingly, the sale of stock of iron ore through e-auction under the aegis of the monitoring committee was adopted as it was the transparent process – Ever since then, e-auction has been the only mode available – However, the situation prevalent in the region prior to 2011, has now changed – Additionally, the consecutive e-auctions conducted by the Monitoring Committee have been receiving a poor response – In view thereof, the restrictions placed on the manner of conducting the sale of iron ore and fixation of the sale price need to be removed – Permission granted to the applicants to sell the already excavated iron ore stock-pile in the Districts, without having to resort to the process of e-auction – Permission also granted to export the iron ore and pellets manufactured from the iron ore produced from the mines situated in the State of Karnataka, in terms of the extant policy – As regards, the lifting of the ceiling limit for production of iron ore for mining leases in the Districts, it would be expedient to obtain an opinion from the Oversight Authority who would further take inputs from the stakeholders, including the CEC and the Monitoring Committee.
T. N. Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India
(1997) 2 SCC 267 : [1996] 9 Suppl. SCR 982 – referred to.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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