Expressing dissatisfaction with the report of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) on 99 mining leases in Karnataka, the Supreme Court on Friday set up a new team to conduct a fresh survey and to demarcate the boundaries of these leases in the Bellary-Hospet forest region. A Forest Bench comprising Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia and Justices Aftab Alam and K.S. Radhakrishnan made it clear that after the survey if illegal mining or...

A Supreme Court-appointed panel has found large-scale illegal mining in Karnataka, particularly in the state's iron-ore rich Bellary district. The illegal activity was taking place in connivance with officials, the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) said in its report submitted to the court in New Delhi Friday. The CEC also found that between 2003 and 2010, over 30 million tonnes of iron ore had been exported from Karnataka without valid permits. As the CEC...

The promise of the FRA remains largely unfulfilled, says a committee set up by the Ministries of Environment and Forests and Tribal Affairs. IT seems hard for a government used to controlling most of India's common lands to let go of them. Even though it has passed a law mandating more decentralised governance of forests, the government itself is proving to be the biggest obstacle in its implementation. Other than in...

Allotment of gram sabha land to private persons illegal Ponds, tanks which served communities for years encroached upon Taking a serious view of illegal and unauthorised encroachments on government poromboke land, the Supreme Court has directed all the State governments to prepare schemes for eviction of such occupants of gram sabha/panchayat/poromboke/shamlat land and restore them to the gram sabha/panchayat for the common use of villagers. A Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan...

The country’s top court has warned states against allotting gram sabha land to private persons and commercial enterprises and then “regularising” such Illegal encroachment in return for money. In a ruling last week, the Supreme Court said such land was for the common use of villagers and directed chief secretaries to prepare schemes to evict “unscrupulous” trespassers who had grabbed land using muscle power or political clout. “In many states, government orders...