Senior advocate Harish Salve, who is assisting the Supreme Court as an amicus curiae in environment matters, on Thursday recused himself from appearing in the cases relating to illegal mining in Bellary forest area of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
Mr. Salve sought to dissociate himself from the matter by informing a special forest bench headed by Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia that he had earlier represented some mining firms which have been indicted by the expert committee for carrying out illegal operations.
The bench, also comprising justices Aftab Alam and K.S. Radhakrishnan, accepted Mr. Salve’s plea and adjourned the matter in which it was to deliver interim orders.
Mr. Salve has been amicus curiae for the apex court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC)since 1996.
On April 15, the CEC had submitted a report before the apex court finding large-scale illegal mining in Karnataka, particularly in Bellary forest region, in connivance with officials and politicians, after which the apex court sought a response from the state government.
In the report, the CEC had said Karnataka government has failed to take any action against the massive illegal mining which continued in 2009-10 despite a report by state Lokayukta.
Bellary region assumes importance because of the business of powerful mining magnates and politicians Reddy brothers – G.Janardhan Reddy and G.Karunakaran -- in the area.
Mr. Salve, appearing for the CEC, had then requested the bench to pass an urgent order to stay mining in some areas.
However, the bench had decided to further hear the matter today.
