Supreme Court rejects CEC's view for lifting mining cap in Karnataka in toto

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a recommendation by the court-appointed Central Empowered Conduct for complete relaxation of the ceiling limit of iron ore mining in Karnataka, saying the situation merits a cautious approach, even though much good work has been done to check illegal activities.

A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Hima Kohli and C T Ravikumar noted the concerns made by NGO Samaj Parivartan Samudaya through advocate Prashant Bhushan, who said an order of lifting the ceiling limit might lead to unmitigated mining activity in Karnataka, setting the clock back entirely and resulting in regression of the entire state of affairs.

"The concerns of possible over-excavation and its adverse impact on intergenerational equity, must be balanced against the concerns of the other parties, as the principles of sustainable development also comes into play," the court said.

The bench ordered raising of annual ceiling limit of iron ore mining from 28 MMT to 35 MMT for district Bellary, and from seven MMT to 15 MMT for Chitradurga and Tumkur districts collectively, in order "to ensure that any changes in the situation with respect to the mining activity in Karnataka is brought about gradually."

"Conservation of the ecology and the environment must go hand in hand with the spirit of economic development and the fine balance between the two goals is what is sought to be achieved even now," the court said.

Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, on behalf of miners, asked the court to lift the cap, saying when the ceiling limit was imposed by the top court, the state was faced with rampant illegal mining activities, the situation has now been remedied after a series of measures as per the orders of the court.

"The present mining lease holders, complying with all the laws, are being unfairly penalised for the illegalities that were committed a decade ago. Such ceiling limits has resulted in a discriminatory situation where mining lease holders in Karnataka are governed by one legal regime, while those in other States are governed by a completely different regime," he said.

The CEC, the Karnataka government, the Ministry of Steel of Union government, Karnataka Iron and Steel Manufacturers Association, along with the mining lease holders, contended that the changed situation on ground warranted a complete removal of the ceiling limits that were imposed by this court to ensure protection of the environment and keeping in mind the principles governing intergenerational equity.

The monitoring committee, however, highlighted the infrastructural incapacity to transport the iron ore excavated if the ceiling limits were to be raised. The oversight committee, headed by former SC judge B Sudarshan Reddy, declined to give any firm opinion on the issue due to conflicting reports by the CEC and the monitoring committee.

The top court had on July 29, 2011 and August 26, 2011 imposed a ban on mining in Karnataka on the basis of CEC recommendation.

On April 13, 2012, the court allowed the CEC's plea for allowing mining with a ceiling of 30 MMT collectively. On December 14, 2017, the SC raised it 35 MMT in three districts.

"In 2017, this court was of the view that the situation had vastly changed in Karnataka and had therefore allowed an increase in the ceiling limit. We are now in the year 2022. It can be no one’s case that the situation subsisting in Karnataka currently, is the same as had existed when the underlying petition was first taken up, or when the Court had passed the order in 2017, relaxing the ceiling limit to some extent," the bench said.