SC to Centre: Submit Justice Shah Commission report on illegal mining by Jan.27

The Central Government has been asked by the Supreme Court to submit the Justice Shah Commission report on illegal mining in Odisha and Jharkhand to it by January 27.

A green bench headed by Justice A. K. Patnaik also directed the government to provide a copy of the reports to Central Empowered Committee.

The bench passed the order after advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioners, alleged that contents of the report, published in newspapers, are shocking and the apex court should analyse them.

The Central Government had appointed Justice M.B. Shah as the head of a one-man panel in November, 2010. Justice Shah was supposed to submit the final report within 18 months of the commission's first sitting on January 17, 2011.

It was required to submit the final report on or before July 16, 2012.

However, the Union Cabinet had in July, 2012 decided to give it a one-year extension, given the voluminous data the Commission had to collect and compile on mining from seven states-Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Goa and Madhya Pradesh.

In the month of October last year, Justice M B Shah had submitted his third and final report, which was mainly on the mining mafia menace in Goa.

The report is expected to prove crucial as it dwells upon the financial transactions and losses through illegal mining from 2006-2011.

The commission has undertaken a thorough probe into the bank transactions of exporters, traders and mining lease owners to track down the exact financial transaction.

The two interim reports submitted by the commission earlier had led the Supreme Court to impose a temporary ban on mining activities in Goa, the largest exporter of iron-ore in the country.

Of the two reports, one was on illegal iron ore mining across the country, and the other was on illegal mining in Goa.