Orissa Mining Corporation accuses Jairam Ramesh of contempt of court

The Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) on Friday assailed the action of former Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh in cancelling the approval granted to the state-owned company for bauxite mining in the Niyamgiri hills of impoverished Kalahandi district.

OMC’s counsel told the ‘green bench’ of the Supreme Court that the minister committed contempt of court, as the company was granted approval in two judgments with 32 stringent conditions and all of these were complied with. The government is ‘undermining’ the power of the court, the counsel argued.

Although the conditions imposed by the court judgments were being followed, the then minister appointed a three-member committee to review the situation. When a majority of the members found the company complying with the conditions, the minister appointed another four-member committee, which gave a ‘devastating’ report against the company.

The minister not only accepted the report of the four-member committee but just before he took up another portfolio, he reversed the approvals granted to OMC at all stages, OMC counsel K K Venugopal told the bench headed by judge Aftab Alam.

State government counsel
C A Sundaram joined in and asserted the ministry could not ‘wipe out’ the SC orders. Mining major Sterlite also joined the chorus against the ban.

When the judges asked the ministry why it had imposed the curbs, the latter said the committee had found various new violations of the forest and environment laws, of a serious nature. Therefore, the prohibition was valid, the ministry said.

The bench expressed doubts over its jurisdiction in a matter like this.

“The ministry cannot be reduced to a clerk, or a rubber stamp and follow the court orders without applying its executive mind. There are serious questions of jurisdiction,” the judges observed. The arguments were not concluded and will continue over the next week.