The Supreme Court on Thursday stalled Vedanta Group's bauxite mining project in Niyamgiri Hills of Odisha till gram sabhas of districts Rayagada and Kalahandi in the state give clearance to it. The apex court directed the gram sabhas of the two districts to decide in three months the issues arising out of the mining project, including that of the tribals residing in the area.
A bench of justices Aftab Alam, K S Radhakrishnan and Ranjan Gogoi also directed the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to take action in two months after a report from the gram sabhas is received.
The bench gave the directions on the petition moved by state-owned Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) challenging an MoEF decision to cancel the environmental clearance granted to the Niyamgiri Bauxite Mining Project of Sterlite Industries Ltd, the Indian arm of the UK-based Vedanta Group.
The ministry had refused the next stage forest clearance to OMC and Sterlite's mining project in Niyamgiri Hills area in Lanjigarh, Kalahandi and Rayagada districts, accepting the Forest Advisory Committee's (FAC) recommendation for withdrawal of the clearance.
During the proceedings, OMC and Sterlite Industries had claimed that no ecological damage has been caused due to the mining activities in Niyamgiri Hills.
This contention had been opposed by the MoEF and various tribal rights groups which had alleged that the project has violated environmental norms. The ministry had submitted before the court that the forest dwellers cannot be evicted from proposed mining sites in Niyamgiri Hills of Odisha till the ‘community and individual’ rights of residents are decided under the law. Earlier in 2007, the MoEF had given in-principle approval to Sterlite's $1.7 billion bauxite mining project. However, in August 2010, the ministry had rejected the clearance citing various violation of forest and environmental laws.
In 2003, Vedanta Resources had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Odisha government for construction of one-million-tonne-per-annum capacity refinery for aluminium production in Kalahandi district. Vedanta had later sought to expanded the refinery's capacity to six million tonne per annum.
As part of the project, South West Bauxite Mining Company Pvt Ltd, a joint venture between Vedanta and OMC, had proposed to extract 73 million tonnes of bauxite from around 721 hectares land over a period of 23 years.
SUPREME COURT SCRAPS 49 KARNATAKA MINING LEASES
The Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled 49 leases in mines reporting maximum illegalities in Bellary, Tumkur and Chitradurga districts of Karnataka, but allowed resumption of activity in mines with lesser illegalities as recommended by a Central Empowered Committee (CEC).
CEC had divided the mines in the area into three categories — A, B and C. The mines in which there were the least or no irregularities were categorised as A and those with maximum illegalities were placed in category C.
The apex court, while accepting the majority of the recommendations made by CEC since July 2011 on the mining issues in Karnataka, also said that illegal iron ore mining on the Andhra-Karnataka border would remain suspended till the demarcation of boundary between the two states is completed.
A bench of justices Aftab Alam, K S Radhakrishnan and Ranjan Gogoi passed the order on a plea by NGO Samaja Parivartana Samudaya which had alleged large-scale irregularities and illegalities were being committed by various private mining firms holding licences to mine in Bellary, Tumkur and Chitradurga districts as well as state-owned Mysore Mining Ltd (MML). The illegalities referred to included illegal mining activities, allotment of huge quantities of iron ore at throw-away prices to private companies and an increase in rates at which iron ore was supplied to some other companies.
A bench of justices Aftab Alam, K S Radhakrishnan and Ranjan Gogoi also directed the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to take action in two months after a report from the gram sabhas is received.
The bench gave the directions on the petition moved by state-owned Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) challenging an MoEF decision to cancel the environmental clearance granted to the Niyamgiri Bauxite Mining Project of Sterlite Industries Ltd, the Indian arm of the UK-based Vedanta Group.
The ministry had refused the next stage forest clearance to OMC and Sterlite's mining project in Niyamgiri Hills area in Lanjigarh, Kalahandi and Rayagada districts, accepting the Forest Advisory Committee's (FAC) recommendation for withdrawal of the clearance.
During the proceedings, OMC and Sterlite Industries had claimed that no ecological damage has been caused due to the mining activities in Niyamgiri Hills.
This contention had been opposed by the MoEF and various tribal rights groups which had alleged that the project has violated environmental norms. The ministry had submitted before the court that the forest dwellers cannot be evicted from proposed mining sites in Niyamgiri Hills of Odisha till the ‘community and individual’ rights of residents are decided under the law. Earlier in 2007, the MoEF had given in-principle approval to Sterlite's $1.7 billion bauxite mining project. However, in August 2010, the ministry had rejected the clearance citing various violation of forest and environmental laws.
In 2003, Vedanta Resources had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Odisha government for construction of one-million-tonne-per-annum capacity refinery for aluminium production in Kalahandi district. Vedanta had later sought to expanded the refinery's capacity to six million tonne per annum.
As part of the project, South West Bauxite Mining Company Pvt Ltd, a joint venture between Vedanta and OMC, had proposed to extract 73 million tonnes of bauxite from around 721 hectares land over a period of 23 years.
SUPREME COURT SCRAPS 49 KARNATAKA MINING LEASES
The Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled 49 leases in mines reporting maximum illegalities in Bellary, Tumkur and Chitradurga districts of Karnataka, but allowed resumption of activity in mines with lesser illegalities as recommended by a Central Empowered Committee (CEC).
CEC had divided the mines in the area into three categories — A, B and C. The mines in which there were the least or no irregularities were categorised as A and those with maximum illegalities were placed in category C.
The apex court, while accepting the majority of the recommendations made by CEC since July 2011 on the mining issues in Karnataka, also said that illegal iron ore mining on the Andhra-Karnataka border would remain suspended till the demarcation of boundary between the two states is completed.
A bench of justices Aftab Alam, K S Radhakrishnan and Ranjan Gogoi passed the order on a plea by NGO Samaja Parivartana Samudaya which had alleged large-scale irregularities and illegalities were being committed by various private mining firms holding licences to mine in Bellary, Tumkur and Chitradurga districts as well as state-owned Mysore Mining Ltd (MML). The illegalities referred to included illegal mining activities, allotment of huge quantities of iron ore at throw-away prices to private companies and an increase in rates at which iron ore was supplied to some other companies.