JOIN USSC reserves order in OMC case
A bench of Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan, Justices Deepak Verma and B S Chauhan said it would pronounce the order on a later date. Attorney General Ghulam E Vahanvati submitted that OMC and other lease holders should not be given permission to carry on mining till the survey by the Supreme Court-appointed panel was over.
Reading provisions from the rule book, Vahanvati said it was the responsibility of the lease holders to keep the demarcation points intact at their own cost.
Show-cause notice
“Any breach in preserving the bench-points and boundary would invite show-cause notice asking why the lease should not be cancelled,’’ said Vahanvati fixing the blame on the mining company for demolishing the demarcating points. He alleged that the authorities had demarcated the land and fixed the points at the time of granting the lease.
Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium read out the report submitted by the SC-appointed Committee headed by Major General A K Padha, Additional Surveyor General of Survey of India(SoI) which pleaded for demarcation of state boundary between Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, before measuring the mine boundaries.
Boundary violation
While referring to the 68.50 hectare area owned by the Reddy brothers, the report said: “The occupied area shifts about 100 to 150 metre towards the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh inter-state boundary i.e. to the western side, and is going beyond the inter-state boundary as per the Survey of India map.’’
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for Obulapuram Mining Company, submitted that the company should be permitted to continue mining activities in the area that has not been included in the dispute as it had other obligations and the mines were closed for the past five months.