Orissa govt oppose CBI probe into mining scam

Vehemently opposing the pleas made by several petitioners for CBI probe into Orissa mining scam, the state government has filed an affidavit in the High Court stating that the prayers are “uncalled for” at this stage since the Supreme Court is already seized upon the matter and a Judicial Commission of Enquiry is instituted to probe into all cases of illegal mining in the country, including that of Orissa.

It may be noted that earlier, the Centre, through an affidavit in the High Court, had said, it will cooperate with the state government for a probe into the mining scam by any Central agency including CBI.

Responding to notices issued to it by the HC pertaining to as many as four PILs, an under secretary of state steel and mines department has filed the affidavit of over 125 pages, including annexure running into another hundred pages.

The High Court has fixed Tuesday for hearing of the matter in which all the PILs would be heard jointly.

Stating that the state government has taken all preventive steps to stop illegal mining, the affidavit said, a vigilance enquiry into the alleged scam is already in progress ever since the issue surfaced last year. It informed that during last four years, till June 2009, at least 2823 cases of illegal mining were detected and around Rs 1673 lakh were realized as penalty.

Similarly, the state vigilance directorate has registered at least seven cases relating to mining scam in which charge-sheets have been filed against as many as 16 persons, the affidavit said, adding that CBI probe into the scam is not necessary in view of the progress made by the vigilance sleuths.

It further maintains that 128 mining leases for various minerals including iron ore, manganese, chromites, limestone have been suspended in the State while 482 licenses granted for trading and storage of minerals  have been cancelled as part of measures to stop illegal mining.

Elaborating other measures adopted by the state government, the affidavit said a state-level enforcement squad is conducting intensive inspection of non-grant areas to check illegal mining while the mines department has begun verification of mining lease boundaries, for which remote sensing technology is also proposed to be used.

Above all, the affidavit said: “As Justice M B Shah, retired judge of Supreme Court, has been appointed as a Commission of Enquiry for probing into illegal mining of iron ore and manganese ores at various places in the country, including Orissa and has been authorized to take the services of any investigating agency, a CBI probe into Orissa mining scam may not be necessary”.