The State Of Karnataka vs. Sri B. R. Ganapathi Singh

ITEM NO.1 COURT NO.8 SECTION PIL(W)

S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

I.A.NOS. 188, 225, 230 IN I.A. NO.188, I.A. NOS.237, 238, 239, 240 & 244 IN WRIT PETITION(CIVIL) NO(S). 562/2009

SAMAJ PARIVARTANA SAMUDAYA & ORS. Petitioner(s) VERSUS

STATE OF KARNATAKA & ORS. Respondent(s) (FOR PERMISSION TO FILE APPLN. FOR CLARIFICATION/MODIFICATION OF COURT'S ORDER DATED 18.04.2013)

Date : 30/07/2015 These applications were called on for hearing today.

CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RANJAN GOGOI HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE R.K. AGRAWAL HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA

Mr. Shyam Divan, Sr. Adv. (A.C.)

Mr. A.D.N. Rao, Adv. (A.C.)[N/P]

Mr. Siddharth Choudharya, Adv. (A.C.)

For parties (s) Mr. C.A. Sundaram, Sr. Adv. Mr. Chander Uday Singh, Sr. Adv. Mr. Rajat Jariwal, Adv. Mr. Aakash Bajaj, Adv. Mr. Sanjeev K. Kapoor, Adv. for M/s Khaitan & Co., AOR Mr. Raju Ramachandran, Sr.Adv. Ms. Anitha Shenoy, Adv. Ms. Vishruti Vijay, Adv. Ms. Mythili Vijay Kumar Thallam, Adv. Mr. Kapil Sibal, Sr. Adv. Mr. K.N. Phanindra, Adv. Mr. Ninad Laud, Adv. Mr. Jayant Mohan, Adv. Mr. Karan Mathur, Adv. Ms. Ranjeeta Rohatgi, Adv. Digitally signed by Vinod Lakhina Date: 2015.07.31 Signature Not Verified

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16:25:41 IST Reason:

Mr. Vadivelu Deenadayalan, Adv. Mr. Ninad Laud, Adv. Mr. Mahesh Agarwal, Adv. Mr. E.C. Agrawala, Adv. Mr. K. Raghavacharyulu, Adv. Mr. Kailash Pandey, Adv. Mr. Ranjeet Singh, Adv. Ms. Arunima Pal, Adv. Mr. K.V. Sreekumar, Adv. Mr. Maninde Singh, ASG Mr. R.S. Suri, Sr. Adv. Ms. Gunwant Dara, Adv. Ms. Saroj Bala, Adv. Mr. S.N. Terdal, Adv.

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R

The issue with regard to modalities that would govern the auction of the Category 'C' mines which have been ordered to be cancelled by our judgment and order dated 18th April, 2013 passed in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 562 of 2009 [Samaj Parivartana Samudaya and others versus State of Karnataka and others] and other connected matters is being dealt with by the present order.

Shri Nilaya Mitash, IAS, Secretary, Commerce and Industries Department (Mines), Government of Karnataka, Bangalore is personally present in Court at the request of the Court. From the materials on record and the statement made by Shri Nilaya Mitash, Secretary, Commerce and Industries Department (Mines), Government of Karnataka, it

appears that 15 of the Category 'C' mines are ready for auction. We, therefore, direct that the auction of the aforesaid mines, details of which are indicated herein below will commence immediately and stand concluded within outer limit of 32 weeks, preferably within 26 weeks with effect from today.

S.No.	Name of the Mine	ML No.
1.	Deccan Mining Syndicate (P)<br>Ltd.	2525
2.	Karthikeyas Managanese	2559
3.	Hothur Traders	2313
4	V.S. Lad & Sons	2290
5.	B.R. Yogendranath Singh	2186
6	M/s Lakshminarayan Mining Co.	2487
7.	Rama Rao Paol	2621
8.	Ramgad Mines & Mineral Pvt.<br>Ltd.	2451
9.	M/s Channakeshava Reddy	2566
10.	M/s Nidhi Mining Company	2433
11.	M/s S.B. Minerals	2393
12.	M/s Srinivasalu Mines	2631
13.	M/s Tungabhadra Minerals Pvt.<br>Ltd.	2365

14.	M/s Tungabhadra Minerals Pvt.<br>Ltd.	2366
15.	M/s Mineral Mines and traders	2185(A)

The modalities which would govern the auction would be as follows:

1. The lease boundary of each of the mining lease will be as approved by this Court by judgment and order dated 18th April, 2013.

2. Only the end-users engaged in production of sponge iron and/or pig iron and/or steel and/or pellets will be eligible to take part in the auction. The end-users will include Public Sector Undertakings;

3. The reserve price under Rule 8(1) Mineral (Auction) Rules, 2015 will be specified in the tender documents at 35%.

4. The permissible annual production will be as prescribed under the approved R&R Plan prepared until such time that the same is modified by this Court.

5. The successful bidder/lessee will be required to produce and dispatch every year at least 50% of the permissible annual production as prescribed under the approved R&R Plan. Whenever the dispatch in a year is below the guaranteed dispatch as indicated above in that case irrespective of the quantity actually dispatched the total amount payable during the year will be based on the guaranteed dispatch. In addition, the lessee may also be required to surrender the lease. This condition will not be applicable during the initial period of 18 months provided to the successful bidder/lessee to obtain the statutory approvals;

6. The successful bidder/lessee will be required to implement the prescriptions/provisions of the approved R&R Plan in accordance with the guidelines approved by this Court. The cost incurred for this will be reimbursed by the State Government to the successful bidder/lessee after recovering the same from the erstwhile lessee;

7. Consortium of end-users will not be eligible to participate in the auction;

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8. The existing statutory approvals/clearances in favour of the lessee of the erstwhile Category 'C' mining leases will be transferred in favour of the new lessees. The concerned authority will take expeditious action for the grant of the statutory approvals such as the environmental clearance and approval/TWP under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980;

9. The State of Karnataka will be at liberty to reduce the reserve price for the mining leases for which no bid above the reserve price is received;

10. The sale proceeds of the auction, for the present, will be credited to the Consolidated Fund to the extent of 75% and 25% to the account of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). This will be subject to such further orders as may be passed;

The above conditions will naturally be in addition to all requirements spelt out by .the amendments to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 and the Mineral (Auction) Rules, 2015.

On behalf of State of Karnataka a further submission has been made that for the present auction in respect of 9 mines whose size is very small may be kept in abeyance and out of the remaining 27 mines the exploration work may be permitted to be done in two phases. In the first phase, 15 mines [10 in Bellary, 3 in Tumkur and 2 in Chitradurga Districts] are proposed for exploration. According to the State, the exploration work is likely to be completed by June 2016 whereafter the remaining 12 mines will be taken up for exploration and completed by the end of January, 2017. This, however, is subject to such orders that the Court may pass upon consideration of the feasibility of commencement of exploration work in a situation where the issue of enhancement/reduction of the cap on production is pending final decision. Upon due consideration, we direct the State of Karnataka to proceed with the exploration work as indicated above.

[VINOD LAKHINA] COURT MASTER

[ASHA SONI] COURT MASTER

ITEM NO.2 COURT NO.8 SECTION PIL(W)

S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

I.A.NOS. 204, 219 & 223 IN I.A. NO.204 IN WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO(S). 562/2009

SAMAJ PARIVARTANA SAMUDAYA & ORS. Petitioner(s)

VERSUS

STATE OF KARNATAKA & ORS. Respondent(s) (FOR DIRECTIONS AND INTERVENTION AND IMPLEADMENT)

Date : 30/07/2015 These applications were called on for hearing today.

CORAM :

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RANJAN GOGOI HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE R.K. AGRAWAL HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA

For Parties (s) Mr. K.K. Venugopal, Sr. Adv. Mr. Rohit Bhat, Adv. Mr. Praveen Sehrawat, Adv. Mr. Saransh Jain, Adv. Mr. Priyadarshee Banerjee, Adv. Mr. Akhil Anand,

Mr. Balaji Srinivasan, Adv.

Mr. K. Raghavacharyulu, Adv. Mr. Kailash Pandey, Adv. Mr. Ranjeet Singh, Adv. Ms. Arunima Pal, Adv. Mr. Chandra Prakash, Adv. Mr. E.C. Agrawala, Adv.

Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Rajpal, Adv. Mr. Shrey Kapoor, Adv. For M/s Aura & Co.,AOR

for M/s Karanjawala & Co., AOR

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R

I.A.NO.219 IN I.A.NO. 204 IN W.P. (C) NO.562/2009

Learned counsel appearing for the applicant prays for liberty to withdraw I.A. No.219 for intervention. He is permitted to do so. Accordingly, I.A. No.219 is closed on withdrawal.

I.A.NO. 204 IN W.P. (C) NO.562/2009

Mr. M.K. Jiwrajka, Member Secretary, Central Empowered Committee (CEC) on being called upon by the Court with reference to the prayer of the applicant-Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI) made in paragraph 42 of the Additional Affidavit dated 20th February, 2015 in I.A. No.204 has made a statement that the production limit of all the mines taken together may exceed the cap of 30 Million Metric Tonnes. However, the actual production cannot exceed the said figure.

In view of the aforesaid statement made by Mr. Jiwrajka, Member Secretary, CEC, we see no difficulty in the CEC considering the prayer made by the applicant FIMI in paragraph 42, as stated above, which obviously will be as per the norms contained in Para 8 (21) of the judgment in Samaj Parivartana Samudaya and others Versus State of Karnataka and others (2013)8 SCC 154].

A prayer has also been made in the Additional Affidavit filed on behalf of the FIMI dated 21st March, 2015 for a direction to the CEC to refund the guarantee monies deposited by the lessees who have completed the R&R works, after necessary satisfaction that the works have been completed. The CEC is to file a report on completion of such works by the leaseholder(s) whereafter the Court will pass appropriate orders.

List the application on the next date fixed.

[VINOD LAKHINA] COURT MASTER

[ASHA SONI] COURT MASTER

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ITEM NO.21 & 22 COURT NO.8 SECTION PIL(W) S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS I.A.NO. 242 IN WRIT PETITION(CIVIL) NO(S). 562/2009 SAMAJ PARIVARTANA SAMUDAYA & ORS. Petitioner(s) VERSUS STATE OF KARNATAKA & ORS. Respondent(s) (FOR DIRECTIONS) AND I.A.NO. 243 IN WRIT PETITION(CIVIL) NO(S). 562/2009 [FOR DIRECTIONS] Date : 30/07/2015 These applications were called on for hearing today. CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RANJAN GOGOI HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE R.K. AGRAWAL HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA For Petitioner(s) Mr. Prashant Bhushan, Adv. Mr. Ramesh K. Mishra, Adv. Mr. Govind Jee, Adv. For Respondent(s)

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R

Issue notice in I.A. Nos. 242 and 243 in Writ Petition (Civil) No.562 of 2009 to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) through Central Agency. The CBI will inform the Court on the next date fixed the status of the prosecution launched by it in respect of Deccan Mining Syndicate and Associated Mining Company and stage of the trial if the same is pending before the learned trial Court.

[VINOD LAKHINA]	[ASHA SONI]
COURT MASTER	COURT MASTER