SC issues notice to MoEF, Orissa govt and Sterlite

The Supreme Court (SC) today issued notices to the Union ministry of environment & forests (MoEF), Orissa government and Sterlite Industries on a petition filed by Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) in the apex court, challenging the cancellation of Stage-II forest clearance by MoEF for bauxite mining at Niyamgiri hills in south Orissa's Kalahandi district.

A bench of Justice R V Raveendran and Justice A K Patnaik issued notice to all the three respondents, directing them to file responses within four weeks.

It may be noted, the cancellation of stage-II forest clearance for mining at Niyamgiri has put the future of alumina refinery of Vedanta Aluminium, a group company of Sterlite Industries, in jeopardy as the project, on which the promoters have already spent Rs 10,000 crore, intended to run on bauxite supplied from this mine.

Meanwhile, the state Chief Secretary B K Patnaik said that the state government would examine the SC notice and later decide as to which department would reply to the notice.

"The court notice has to be examined first and later it will be decided whether the department of tribal affairs, steel & mines or the department of forest & environment will file a response”, he told media persons.

Sterlite Industries has said that it will soon file a compliance report in response to the apex court notice after consultation with its lawyers.

"In its order of August 2008, the Supreme Court had asked us to deposit Rs 55 crore for wildlife, Rs 50 crore towards Net Present Value (NPV), Rs 12 crore for tribal development and Rs 10 crore for peripheral development of the Lanjigarh area. In our reply to the apex court's notice, we will state that we have duly complied with the order”, a company official told Business Standard.

It may be noted that on March 8, OMC had challenged the decision of MoEF in the apex court.

"OMC had complied with all the conditions of MoEF for Stage-I clearance and there was no justification on the part of the ministry to cancel Stage-II forest clearance for bauxite mining at Niyamgiri hills. After the environment ministry had canceled the Stage-II forest clearance, we had requested the ministry to reconsider the order but we did not get any response even after two months. Consequently, OMC filed a petition in the Supreme Court", Raghunath Mohanty, minister for industries and steel & mines had told media persons earlier.

It may be noted that on August 24 last year, the MoEF had rejected the Stage-II forest clearance for bauxite mining at Niyamgiri hills on the recommendations of the four-member Saxena committee.

The ministry was of the view that mining at Niyamgiri hills would severely impact the wildlife in the area.

The mining operations would involve stripping off more than seven square kms of the Niyamgiri hill top, which would drastically alter the region's water supply, severely affecting both ecological systems and human communities, the MoEF said in its order.

Besides, the ministry held that mining would lead to loss of forest cover, thereby affecting the two tribal groups- Dongaria and Kutia Kondh, heavily dependent on forest produce for their livelihood.