State response on CEC report by month end

To accept most of CEC's recommendations.

The Orissa government will file its response to the interim report of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court in connection with a case relating to illegal mining operations in the state by the end of this month.

It may be noted that the CEC submitted its interim report to the Supreme Court on April 26, 2010 with a set of recommendations pertaining to check illegal mining activities in Orissa.

“We will accept most of the recommendations made by the CEC and will file our response by the end of this month”, a highly placed official source told Business Standard.

On May 8 this year, the green bench of the Supreme Court had directed the Orissa government to implement the recommendations of the CEC, which are acceptable to it, immediately.

At the same time, the Court had expressed happiness over the willingness and readiness of the state government in accepting the recommendations. The direction of the court followed the submission made by the Orissa government that the CEC recommendations in general are acceptable to it.

The court had also allowed six weeks to the state for filing its detailed response after hearing the matter.

In its 85-page interim report, the CEC had pointed out that there was rampant illegal mining in Orissa. The CEC had inferred that illegal mining was going on for a long time in violation of the forest conservation act, air and water act and various norms of environmental clearance. The CEC had highlighted these issues in its interim report submitted to the Apex court.

The findings of the CEC are based on the submissions made by the applicant and the Orissa government in the matter. The CEC report also mentioned that the production level in many mines was above the quantity approved in the mining plan (MP).