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Common Cause v. Union of India and Others

Interlocutory Application · 2021 INSC 10Decided 6 Jan 2021
Interlocutory Application Nos. 131281, 131288 of 2019; I.A. Nos. 179704 of 2018 and 54364 of 2019; I.A. No. 150858 of 2019, in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 114 of 2014
Chief Justice S.A. Bobde · Justice A.S. Bopanna · Justice V. Ramasubramanian

Background

This order arises out of the Supreme Court's long-running public interest litigation on illegal iron-ore and manganese mining in Odisha. Three separate groups of mining leaseholders (or their legal heirs) filed applications seeking permission to sell mineral stock already extracted and lying at their mine sites, so that sale proceeds could be used to pay compensation/demand amounts the Court had earlier ordered them to pay for excess or unauthorised production, and in one case to also resume mining operations.

Decision Breakdown

The Court permitted all three sets of applicants to sell and remove the already-mined ore lying at their sites, strictly under the supervision of an independent committee of retired judicial officers it appointed for the purpose, with sale proceeds to go directly into the State Government's treasury towards the outstanding compensation, while expressly prohibiting any fresh mining activity under cover of the order. The application seeking permission to resume actual mining operations was allowed only to the extent of permitting the State to process that request, and only subject to the applicant first obtaining all requisite statutory environmental and forest clearances, since those clearances had lapsed.

Lesson Learnt

Even where a mining leaseholder has cleared its monetary liabilities towards the State, the resumption of actual mining remains conditional on obtaining all statutory clearances; courts can permit disposal of already-extracted stock to settle dues while still firmly guarding against any revival of unauthorised mining under the cover of such permission.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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