SC asks Karnataka to notify law against illegal mining

The Supreme Court today asked the Karnataka government to either notify within two weeks the new law against illegal mining or lift its order banning transportation of iron ore meant for export, saying the ban cannot be sustained indefinitely.

Earlier, the Karnataka government had banned transportation of iron ore for export purposes for six months pending a legislation to curb illegal mining. A bench of justices R V Raveendran and A K Patnaik told the state government that if it fails to notify the proposed Karnataka Prevention of Illegal Mining, Storage and Transportation Rules, 2010, it will have to make special arrangements to allow the mining firms to export the ore.

“Ban cannot be forever. You can stop illegal mining but the ban cannot stay forever,” said the bench. Observing that the ban was temporary in nature, imposed only for six months originally, it asked the government not to extend it beyond January.