Top court sets aside HC order for release of seized iron ore

The Supreme Court has set aside a Karnataka High Court judgement that allowed a plea by Vedanta Limited for release of iron ore seized at Belekeri Port after registration of criminal case.

A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan  held the high court's July 4, 2017 judgement as "wholly unsustainable," while allowing an appeal filed by the Karnataka government.

The court, however, said it would be open for Vedanta Ltd, formerly known as Sesa Sterlite Ltd, to file application before the Special CBI judge, Bengaluru, for release of seized iron ore after establishing its existence and ownership.

The top court accepted contention made by senior advocate Basava Prabhu Patil, representing the state government, that the high court committed error in relying upon a final report filed by the CBI officer, attached to Karnataka Lokayukta's SIT and its subsequent acceptance by the trial court on May 15, 2015. The final report had stated that no case was made out against the accused in the case registered in 2014.

The court found substance in the plea by the state that the order for release of seized iron ore to the quantity of 34,544 MT of iron ore was passed on May 8 2015, in a different case registered at Ankola police station on March 15, 2010.

On March 20, 2010, as much as five lakh MT of illegally stocked iron ore was seized for having been extracted in violation of the Karnataka Forest Act. However, the matter got mixed up as in another case, a permission was sought to dispose of 56 heaps of iron ore lying at the Belekeri Port approximately weighing 2,72,713.347 MT by e-tender.