Times of India, Jan 12, 2013
BHUBANESWAR: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to submit its affidavit pertaining to cancellation of clearance to the Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and Sterlite Industries for mining bauxite from Niyamgiri hills in Kalahandi district.
A three-member bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi,Aftab Alam and K S Panicker Radhakrishnan heard the arguments of the Odisha government, state-owned OMC and MoEF and decided to defer the hearing to Jan 21, sources said.
The state government and OMC, which have challenged MoEF's 2007 order rescinding environment clearance to mine Niyamgiri, opposed the Union ministry's decision and prayed that the latter file its affidavit before the apex court at the earliest.
Sources said the state government is keen that the apex court expeditiously disposes of the case as the Vedanta Aluminium Limited's refinery at Lanjigarh has been shutdown since December due to raw material shortage. OMC and Sterlite Industries, an arm of Vedantagroup, had proposed to jointly mine Niyamgiri to supply bauxite to Vedanta's million tonne per annum refinery.
The central government had in 2007 given environmental nod to the Niyamgiri bauxite mining project, but subsequently withdrew it in the face of strong opposition from local Dongaria Kondhs and green activists who held that mining would ruin the area's ecology.
What has further upped the ante is the scheduled visit of Union rural development ministerJairam Ramesh to Lanjigarh on Sunday to interact with Dongaria Kondhs. Ramesh was the Union environment and forest minister when the environment clearance to mine Niyamgiri was cancelled.
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