Hubballi: Samaj Parivartana Samudaya (SPS) filed a major contempt petition in the Supreme Court (SC) against three officials, includingchief secretary Shalini Rajneesh, for serious violations of SC judgment for amalgamation of five mines, said founder of Samaja Parivartana Samudaya (SPS) SR Hiremath.
Speaking to the reporters here on Wednesday, he said that state officials knowingly and deliberately violated a landmark Supreme Court judgment and four subsequent orders in their public interest litigation (PIL) between 2018 and 2024. He said that 87.9 ha of forest were included in auctioned blocks while state contributions to the special purpose vehicle (SPV) were unilaterally reduced. We requested the apex court to punish the officials for civil contempt, and declare the amalgamation and auction of the five blocks void, he said Additionally, citing the Oversight Authority (OA) report headed by retired SC Judge Justice Sudershan Reddy dated Dec 3, 2024, SPS urged the court to cap annual iron ore production across four Karnataka districts of Ballari, Vijayanagara, Chitradurga, and Tumakuru at 20 million tonnes. At the current rate of 50 million tonnes, reserves will be exhausted in single generation,” Hiremath stated.
“A limit of 20 million tonnes per year is essential for intergenerational equity so that iron ore resources last for 75 years (3 generations). Boundaries were merged with expired ‘Category B’ and cancelled ‘Category A1’ leases. Five new mining blocks, Jaisinghpura North, Jaisinghpura South, Somanahalli, Vyasanakere, and HR Gaviappa were carved out and auctioned to bidders, he stated.