In its latest submission before the Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court, Samaj Parivartan Samudaya (SPS) has appealed to the court to direct the governments not to issue any new mining leases without prior permission from the Supreme Court.
Addressing presspersons here on Sunday along with I.G. Pulli of the National Committee for Protection of Natural Resources (NCPNR), founder president of the Samaj Parivartan Samudaya S.R. Hiremath said that in the submission filed before the CEC on August 24 on the “pending and related orders”, they had sought immediate cancellation of the mining leases included under category ‘B’ and ‘C’.
Mr. Hiremath said that through the submission, SPS had also urged for creating a system so that any new mining lease would be auctioned as per the Supreme Court’s decision in the 2G Spectrum case.
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“We have appealed to the CEC to recommend for immediate cancellation of the mining leases and also recover the money they got through illegal mining apart from initiating criminal prosecution against the mining companies based on the findings of the joint team and the CEC”, he said.
Mr. Hiremath said that the SPS had also sought suspension and cancellation of six mining leases in the Bellary Reserve Forest in Ananthapur district of Andhra Pradesh that included four leases owned by Reddy brothers and associates as per the recommendations of the CEC in its very first report.
“We have also sought a clarification of the Supreme Court’s order dated May 11, 2011, so that the CBI could take up investigation of the mining lease of R. Praveen Chandra (Mining Lease no. 2661) which was left out inadvertently in the said order”, he said.
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Mr. Hiremath said that the other pending issues mentioned in the submission were pertaining to the Ramghad forest area, Swami Malai Forest, ban on export, creation of special purpose vehicle for meeting the needs of the local communities, their livelihood, education and health and others.
Expunging of the reference to allow mining in the Western Ghats in the report filed by the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education and involvement of the local communities in all aspects of reclamation and rehabilitation and day-to-day trial in the CBI courts in Hyderabad and Bangalore are the other issues included in the submission.
Suspicion
To a query, Mr. Hirmath said the inclusion of some mining firms which had irregularities in their operations in category ‘A’ of the CEC report had certainly given room for suspicion. However, the Forest Bench had already directed the CEC to file a report on the same following objections by the SPS, he said.