-The Hindu Forest Bench says statutory clearance is a must The Forest Bench of the Supreme Court on Friday made it clear that no iron ore mining operations in Karnataka shall be permitted to resume unless there was statutory clearance for mining and till reclamation and rehabilitation was implemented in full. The Bench, comprising Justice Aftab Alam, Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan and Justice Swatanter Kumar, took the decision after the Central Empowered Committee in...
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Seven-and-half years from an opaque to a transparent process for coal allocation
-The Hindu The Comptroller and Auditor-General’s report on the allocation of coal blocks, reviews how it took seven-and-half years to move the allocation procedure for captive coal blocks from a discretionary procedure to competitive bidding that was demonstrably transparent. It turns out that the process began within six weeks of UPA-I coming to power in 2004. Ironically, the amendment to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMDR) Act rules for auction...
More »Auditor triple whammy hits govt in Parliament
-The Indian Express Three new reports by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India increased the heat on the embattled government on Friday. The statutory auditor’s report on coal block allocations, implementation of public-private partnership at the Delhi International Airport and the award of ultra mega power projects (UMPP), tabled in Parliament, accused the government of indulging in favouritism, irregularities in bidding processes, and causing massive losses to the exchequer. The...
More »For Centre, SC the only court: Madras HC-A Subramani
-The Times of India CHENNAI: How can a Union minister go around issuing statements on the commissioning of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant when a court is still seized of the matter, the Madras high court asked on Thursday. "He says the plant is going to be opened shortly. If that is so, why do you come to court?" asked a bench of Justices P Jyothimani and P Devadoss. Though the bench...
More »Govt to move SC to protect rights of tribals-Chetan Chauhan
-The Hindustan Times The Ministry of Tribal Affairs will ask the Supreme Court to review its interim order on declaring core and buffer areas in 41 tiger reserves in India after reports of tribals and forest dwellers being harassed in the name of implementation of the court order. Seven states have notified core and buffer areas in tiger reserves since the Supreme Court, in July, asked them to create the distinction and...
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