Premium
This is an archive article published on January 7, 2011

Scrap lease of Reddy brothers for illegal mining,recommends apex court panel

Reddy brothers called the report 'biased' and said they would soon expose the politician behind it.

The Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee has recommended the mining lease to Karnataka’s powerful Reddy brothers’ firms in Andhra Pradesh be cancelled,saying their Obulapuram Mining Company had openly flouted various environmental laws in mining operations.

The committee also slammed Andhra Pradesh government officials,saying the violations could not have taken place without their connivance.

The high-powered panel,which submitted its report today to the apex court,recommended the cancellation of the lease to four different mines spread over 140 acres on grounds of,among others,large scale illegal mining in Bellary Reserve Forest area.

Story continues below this ad

The Reddy brothers include G Janardhan Reddy and G Karunakar Reddy who are ministers of Karnataka.

Among other reasons cited by the committee for the cancellation of mining lease are illegal extension of the lease by authorties,illegal mining beyond approved area and up to depth three times more than the permissible limit besides illegal construction within the reserved forest area within which they have the mining lease.

The committee also recommended suspension of all transportation activities from the four mines of the Reddy brothers till formal determination of the inter-state boundary between Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in Bellary reserve forest area and setting up of permanent boundary pillars.

In its 70-page report,the committee also said the lease deed of some of the mines were “illegally extended” by state government officials while in the case of others they were extended years after they actually expired.

Story continues below this ad

Mentioning about illegal construction,the panel said it has further found that in one mine of 68.5 hectare,”five roads has been illegally constructed in the reserved forest area and outside the approved lease” in violation of the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act and the condition on which the lease was given.

The committee also found that a mining lease of 39.5 hectare,executed by the Department of Mines of Andhra Pradesh government in favour of OMC “differed materially from forest area for which the approval under the Forest (Conservation) Act has been obtained” originally.

It further found that in another 6.5 hectare mine of the Reddy brother’s another group firm Ananthapur Mining Corporation,the lease was renewed by state officials 17 years after it expired while “11 lakh metric ton iron ore was transported out of it without obtaining permit from the forest department” for it.

It also said the mineral extracted from this mine was transported under the guise of mineral extracted from other mines,which were in far excess of that area.

Story continues below this ad

The CEC said these violations could not have happened without the help of Andhra Pradesh government officials.

“Before concluding the report,the panel would like to refer the sorry state of affairs observed… and which could not have taken place without the active connivance of the concerned officers of the state government,” it said.

The Committee said “almost non-existing monitoring mechanism largely contributed to the large-scale illegalities which have occurred.”

It has also recommended that the Reddy group of firms should not be allowed any mining activities till exemplary compensation is paid by them in the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAMPA).

Story continues below this ad

The CEC gave its report after inspecting six mining sites of the Reddy brothers-owned firm OMC and AMC,S K Modi group firm Bellary Iron Ore Private Limited following the Supreme Court directions on November 19,2010.

The apex court had on March 22 banned mining of iron ores by OMC and appointed a committee comprising officials of Survey of India,forest,irrigation and revenue departments of Andhra Pradesh,besides representatives of the Reddy brothers to look into the allegations of illegal mining and violation of leased areas.

The Reddy brothers,who own mining leases for over 140 hectares of land spread in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district,are accused of encroaching upon reserve forest land.

On May 10,2010 the Supreme Court allowed OMC to resume mining in the undisputed region with a direction not to do mining upto a distance of 50 meters on either side of the inter-state boundary of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

Story continues below this ad

Meanwhile,Opposition parties today demanded the resignation of Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and the Reddy brothers in his ministry hours after the SC panel report.

Tourism Minister G Janardhana Reddy,however,termed the report “biased”.

“The report is biased,” Reddy told reporters when asked about his comment.

Reddy alleged that a politician was behind the report and he would disclose his name shortly.

Story continues below this ad

He said his companies would file objections to the CEC report within the stipulated two weeks.

Already on warpath with the Yedyurappa Government,the opposition used the report to sharpen its attack saying the chief minister should quit for “misleading” the legislature and the governor that his government had checked illegal mining.

The CEC report had established that illegal mining was on in the state,Opposition Congress leader Siddaramaiah said.

Governor H R Bhardwaj in his address to the joint sitting of the state legislature yesterday had said the government had taken steps to curb illegal mining.

Story continues below this ad

Janardhana Reddy and his brother Revenue Minister G Karunakara Reddy should quit the ministry immediately,Siddaramaiah demanded.

“Our allegation that Reddy brothers were engaged in illegal mining has been now proved by the CEC report. We will continue our fight against illegal mining,” he said.

The chief minister had given false information to people and betrayed them,said Siddaramaiah,who led a 320-km Bangalore-Bellary padayatra against illegal mining last year.

“Yeddyurappa has no right to continue as chief minister”,he said.

Story continues below this ad

JD-S leader H D Kumaraswamy,who has been spearheading the oust Yeddyurappa campaign over the mining and land denotification issues,said the Chief Minister should resign on moral grounds and the Reddy brothers too should quit immediately.

The high-powered panel appointed by the apex court recommended cancellation of mining lease to powerful Reddy brothers’ firms in Andhra Pradesh,saying their Obulapuram Mining Company had openly flouted various environmental laws in the mining operations.

It recommended cancellation of mining lease to four different mines spread over 140 acres on grounds of,among others,large scale illegal mining in the Bellary Reserve Forest area.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Latest Comment
Post Comment
Read Comments
Advertisement
Advertisement
Loading Taboola...
Advertisement