Summary
In the continuing Karnataka mining proceedings, the Court declined in August 2017 to replace iron-ore sales by e-auction through its Monitoring Committee with the proposed alternative platform and State supervision. Production limits and environmental restoration remained connected pending issues, and past illegal mining and revenue leakage made relaxation premature.
Issues
- Whether the existing court-supervised e-auction arrangement should then be replaced.
Held
- The e-auction system was part of an integrated response to illegal mining, environmental damage and revenue loss. Free contractual trading could not be considered independently of those circumstances. (¶ 5–10)
- With production-cap and comprehensive environmental-restoration issues still under consideration, the time had not arrived to restore ordinary trading or substitute the proposed hybrid system. The CEC and State suggestions were therefore not accepted at that stage. (¶ 11–13)
Result
I.A. No. 248 of 2015 disposed of by rejecting the requested relaxation for the present; existing e-auction arrangements continued.