Friday, November 19, 2010

Constitution of A Commission of Inquiry on Illegal Mining in Iron and Managanese ORE

The Government has appointed Hon’ble Shri M.B. Shah, retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India as a one-man Commission of Inquiry with headquarters in Mumbai, to submit a report on Illegal Mining in Iron and Manganese ore. It may be recalled that in the Cabinet meeting convened on 16th August, 2010, a Commission of Inquiry was approved to be set up in view of reports of large scale illegal mining in iron ore and manganese in various States in the country.

The terms of reference of the Commission shall be to inquire into –

• the nature and extent of illegal mining and trade and transportation of iron ore and manganese ore and to identify the persons, firms, companies and others responsible;

• the tampering of official records, including records relating to land and boundaries to facilitate illegal mining etc. and the extent to which the management, regulatory and monitoring systems have failed to deter, prevent, detect and punish illegal mining etc. and the persons responsible for the same.

• the overall impact of such illegal mining etc in terms of destruction of forest wealth, damage to the environment, and to the livelihood and other rights of tribal people, forest dwellers and other persons in the mined areas, and the financial losses caused to the Central and State Governments etc.

The Commission may take the services of any investigating agency of the Central Government in order to effectively address its terms of reference.

The Commission will recommend remedial measures to prevent and curb such illegal mining, trade, transportation and export and may submit interim reports. The Commission is expected to submit its final report within 18 months from date of first sitting.

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