Karnataka may set up fast-track court to try illegal mining cases

From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore

Bangalore, Jul 23: Establishment of a fast-track court to try those named in the Rs 16,085 crore mining scam in the State was under the serious consideration of the Government, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.

In a reply to Mallikarjun Siddaramappa Khuba JD(S) during the question hour, Siddaramaiah said “we will seriously consider” the demand made by members on setting up of the fast-track to try all those officials involved in the illegal mining scam.

Earlier, Basavaraj Rayareddy of Congress stressed the need for setting up a fast-track court to expedite cases and recovery of money from officials involved in the multi-crore scam.

Former Karnataka Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde in his final report submitted to the Government on July 27, 2011, said the loss to state exchequer due to illegal mining in the State from 2006 to 2010 is Rs 16,085 crore

Answering questions from ruling Congress party members Ishwar Bheemanna Khandre and Rayareddy, the Chief Minister said the Central Empowered Committee has gone into the illegal mining cases in the State, which is also being probed by the CBI.

Noting the steps taken by the  government regarding action taken against the officials named in the report, including issuance of notices, suspension, forcible retirement, filing of criminal cases and ordering of  Lokayukta probe, he said the government would recover the loss caused to the state exchequer from the retired employees also.

Stating that there is a need to speed up the resolution of cases, the Chief Minister said he would convene a meeting after the conclusion of the ongoing session and discuss steps need address the issue.

He said as per the Mineral Year Book, 2010, of Indian Bureau of Mines, Karnataka has total deposits of 2158 million tonnes of Hematite iron ore and 7,801 million tonnes of magnetite iron ore.

He said the Central Government has fixed 10 per cent (ad valorem basis) of market price of every tonne of iron ore as royalty.

He also indicated raising royalty on iron ore as the government was getting barely a pittance in the form of royalty.

“We will try to increase royalty through correspondence with the Central government,” he said.