There will be a complete ban on iron ore mining in Karnataka until the state government completes the rehabilitation and relief (R&R) of people displaced due to the mining operations.
The Supreme Court on Friday made it clear that it would not lift the ban on mining in three districts of the state unless the R&R process was fully complete.
“Unless we are 100 per cent assured of R&R, we are not going to permit the resumption of mining,†said a bench of Justices Aftab Alam, KS Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar.
It also directed the court appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to consider the submissions made by the petitioner’s lawyer Prashant Bhushan and file a comprehensive report by next hearing on August 23.
Following former Lokayukta Santosh N Hegde’s report on illegal mining in the state, the top court had ordered an investigation by the CEC, which, in turn, confirmed that there had been large-scale violation of mining laws by a section of government functionaries and the mining mafia.
Source: DNA
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