Senior advocate KK Venugopal, appearing for Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC), which is in agreement with Sterlite for bauxite mining at Niyamgiri hills, said former environment minister Jairam Ramesh had passed an order withdrawing the environmental clearance just a day before demitting office.
The order "has been passed in a wholly arbitrary manner and "it was difficult to understand the need and urgency for issuing the present order of July 11 to withdraw the environmental clearance itself," the OMC application said.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) withdrew the clearance a day before the Cabinet reshuffle, which saw Ramesh moving to the rural development ministry.
"OMC was surprised to find a day prior to the reshuffle of the Union Cabinet on July 11, the MoEF, after setting aside the recommendations of the sub-group, accepted by the EAC (Environment Appraisal Committee), suddenly stated exactly opposite to what it should have said," the petition said.
Venugopal submitted that no mandatory notice was given for the withdrawal of the environment clearance granted on August 30, 2010. OMC had approached the apex court three months ago when MoEF had revoked its forest clearance.
Sterlite's controversial USD 1.7 billion bauxite mining project lies in the forest land of Kalahandi and Rayagada area of the state. Venugopal submitted that the minister withdrew the clearance for the project despite knowing that the matter was sub-judice, pending before the Supreme Court. The bauxite mining project is a part of the Vedanta group's six million tonne per annum aluminium refinery in Lanjigarh, which is being set up.
A bench of justices R V Raveendran and Gyan Sudha Misra today issued notice to the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) and directed it to file its reply within a week. The matter will come up for hearing after two weeks.
The court, meanwhile, also allowed Prafful Samanta, on whose plea the MoEF had taken the action, to file an application to be a party in the matter.The OMC application said the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the MoEF, which takes all such decisions had formed a sub group to re-examine the environmental clearance. It held that the sub-group had submitted the recommendation, which was accepted by MoEF also.
"The recommendation by the sub group has been accepted by the EAC subject to three conditions. The three conditions already stood complied with by OMC. The net effect of the recommendation of the EAC was that the MoEF should have acted on the same and re-affirmed the then existing clearance," OMC said in its application.
Earlier, on April 21, the apex court, which was acting on a OMC plea, had issued notices to the Orissa government, the Environment Ministry and Sterlite Industries on a petition challenging the cancellation of forest clearance for the
Niyamgiri bauxite mining project in the state.
Niyamgiri bauxite mining project in the state.
OMC had said that as per the agreement, Sterlite had to pay Rs 55 crore in the wildlife fund and Rs 10 crore annually, or 5% of its annual profits, whichever was higher, for development of the area.
"Sterlite has to make the payment. They have already paid Rs 55 crore for the wildlife fund and have to pay Rs 10 crore annually for the development of the area," it had said.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) had given the in-principle approval to the project in 2007.Contesting the MoEF order of August 24, OMC had submitted that the Centre's order was illegal, arbitrary and in violation of the apex court's earlier directions that gave a green signal to the project.
The MoEF had on August 24 rejected the forest clearance granted to Sterlite's USD 1.7 billion bauxite mining project, citing the violation of various forest and environmental laws.
The ministry had refused next stage forest clearance for OMC and the Sterlite bauxite mining project in the Niyamgiri Hills area in the Lanjigarh, Kalahandi and Rayagadha districts of Orissa, accepting the Forest Advisory Committee recommendation for withdrawal of the clearance.
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