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The central empowered committee (CEC), appointed by the Supreme Court, will submit its report on status of illegal mining in Odisha to the top court on September 15, officials said.
The panel has received all the necessary information sought by it and will be submitting the report next week, they added.
“We have sent information on 26 items referred by the CEC. Besides, they have also heard the views of the miners. They will be submitting their report to the Supreme Court on September 15,” said Deepak Mohanty, director of mines with the state government.
In July this year, during their field visit to mining areas in Odisha, a team of CEC members had found major discrepancies in data showed by mines leaseholders and the state government regarding lease boundary and mineral extraction.
To clear the confusion, the CEC members had asked for more data from State Pollution Control Board, forest department, vigilance wing of the state police and steel and mines department about mines lease renewal, illegal mining, encroachment of lease boundary, mining in forest areas, environment clearance and excess extraction of ore. It had also asked the miners to present with their data for rectification.
On August 3, the state government submitted its data and records. Later, the CEC conducted a meeting of the miners between August 5 and 15 following which the state government was asked to send rectified data about mineral extraction and all other details after consultation with the miners.
After data reconciliation, the state government sent the final data in the last week of August to help CEC prepare a complete report on the status of illegal mining in Odisha.
In April this year, the CEC was instructed by the Supreme Court to submit details of the status of illegal mining in Odisha while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL). In its petition, civil society organisation, Common Cause had appealed the top court to ban mining in Odisha after leaked reports of Shah Commission of enquiry suggested all modes of illegal mining taking place in the state between 2003 and 2009.
The petition had also demanded a probe by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), based on recommendation by the Shah Commission. In its second report, the enquiry commission had recommended CBI probe against 14 mining firms of the state.
