New Delhi/Bangalore, Apr 29 (PTI): The Supreme Court today restrained 19 mining lease holders in Bellary-Hospet region of Karnataka from carrying out any mining activities, including transportation of extracted iron ores, till its further orders.

Acting on the two reports of the apex court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC), which has found large scale of illegal mining in Bellary Forest area, the special forest bench stayed any further mining operations in the 19 mines mentioned in it.

"We make it clear that there would be no mining or transportation of mined materials (in 19 mines) till further order," the bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia said while passing an interim order.

The bench said it would also consider about the rest 68 mining lease holders, mentioned in the third and fourth list of the CEC report for violating environmental norms in mining operations, in its next hearing.

The apex court said as around 30 of them have got some interim orders from the Karnataka High Court, so it would decide about them after the CEC files transfer petition against those firms here.

"There cannot be two parallel orders, one allowing to mine and the other to stop. We would have to call all of them and asked to vacate," said the bench which also consisted of justices Aftab Alam and K S Radhakrishnan, while declining the request of amicus curaie to restrain the 68 firms also.

The apex cout also assured some of the mining firms and their Federation of Mining Industries, which were present today, that it would hear all of them.

However, it rejected their plea that the apex court could not pass any order to suspend the mining lease as no interim application has been filed by the CEC.

On this, the bench said "we are going to convert this CEC report into interim application".
Some of the firms among the 19 mining lease holders are SB Minerals, Muneer Enterprises, Trident Minerals, Veeyam, Adarsha Enterprises, Sparkline Mining, VSL mining Co, Kathikeshwar Mining & Iron Ore and Mithra Mineral Enterprises.

During the proceedings, the apex court asked Advocate General of Karnataka Ashok Haranahalli why the state government failed to stop rampant illegal mining that after the report of Lokayukta indicated about it.

The apex court also said the state government has said that CEC recommendations were acceptable to it.

"If you are aggrieved, then why do not you suspended the mining? Just identify the illegal mining and take action. Why are you not acting on it"? the bench said.

Replying to it, he told the bench that iron ore was a major mineral and comes under the Centre's subject and Karnataka government cannot stop it.

"If you (Karnataka) do not stay, then we would stop it and pass ad interim order," the bench said.

The forest bench directed CEC to file more reports and said it would start hearing the Karnataka mining case immediately after the Lafarge matter, which it is hearing, and said there would be no adjournments in it.

The CEC had on April 15 filed its report before the apex court in which it had said that there has been illegal mining on colossal scale in the state, particularly in Bellary district, with "active" connivance of officials of the departments concerned and also public representatives.

The apex court had in February directed the CEC to conduct a probe over allegations of illegal mining in the state and submit a report within six weeks.

The court's direction had come after a petition filed by an NGO had submitted that as per Karnataka Lokayukta report, mining activities were being carried not only illegally but also in the areas categorised as forest land.

In the report, CEC had given account of illegal mining in Bellary region during 2003 and 2010 and said Karnataka has failed to take any action despite a report by state Lokayukta.

It said 304.91 lakh tonnes of iron ore, valued Rs 15,245 crore, were exported from the state without valid permit between 2003 to 2010.

Bellary region assumes importance because of the business of powerful mining magnates and politicians Reddy brothers-G Karunakara Reddy and G Janardhana Reddy--in the area.

Highlighting the gravity and scale of unlawful mining, the CEC said that "during the last nearly nine years of the existence of the CEC, it has dealt with a number of cases involving illegal mining in Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa. In many of these cases, the extent of illegal mining was found to be quite extensive."

"However all these cases pale into insignificance when compared to the illegal mining on colossal scale that has taken place in Karnataka, particularly in the district Bellary", the CEC report said.

NGO Samaj Parivartan Samudaya had alleged the governments of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh had failed to stop the rampant illegal mining of iron ore, which adversely affected the livelihood of local people, especially the rural poor.

It had alleged illegal mining had resulted in "an encroachment of 1,114.8 hectares of forest land in Karnataka.