SC For CBI Probe Into Gali Illegal Mining Empire

The Supreme Court bench consisting of Chief Justice S H Kapadia and Justices Aftab Alam and Swatanter Kumar on Friday decided to ask the CBI to probe the entire illegal iron ore mining empire of the politically connected Reddy brothers spanning Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The bench sought a status report of the ongoing CBI probe relating to illegal mining in the AP side. It also issued notice to the agency to investigate the alleged linkage with the illegal mining in Karnataka's Bellary district.

The apex court's environmental panel, Central Empowered Committee (CEC), through amicus curiae Shyam Divan said the committee suspected that the Galis illegally mined iron ore from Bellary and then showed it to be a produce from Andhra Pradesh's Obulapuram mines and exported it. The CEC's report compiled by its secretary M K Jiwrajka indicated that former Karnataka tourism minister G Janardhana Reddy, who was also minister in charge of Bellary, encouraged blatant illegal mining after transferring the mining lease of Associated Mining Company (AMC) adopting dubious means.

The amicus curiae A D N Rao told the bench that the mined iron ore was illegally transferred to the AP side and then routed to Krishnapatnam and other ports. "That is precisely what we want the CBI to investigate," the bench said and asked Attorney General G E Vahanvati to assist the court in the matter on September 30 to draw the outline for a CBI probe into the illegal mining in Bellary. The CEC said illegal mining was carried out with impunity in the districts of Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur. It said that public sector undertaking NMDC too suffered from the vice as its contractor Deccan Mining Syndicate indulged in over-extraction of the mineral, forcing closure of the mine.