Soon after Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde releases his final report on illegal mining, the NGO, Samaj Parivarthan Samudaya, which had earlier approached the Supreme Court on the issue, is planning to file an Interim Application (IA) seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)-monitored probe into the mining scam.
The convenor of the NGO, S.R. Hiremath, claimed that he had already spoken to Justice Hegde regarding the filing of the IA. “He said he has no problem at all and asked me to apply for a copy of his second report under the RTI Act soon after it is submitted,” Mr Hiremath told this newspaper.
The NGO had filed the PIL seeking the implementation of the first mining report of the Lokayukta, which was submitted to the state government in December 2008 and has been gathering dust for nearly three years. Following the filing of the PIL, the top court cosntitued a Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to probe the illegalities in Bellary mining. Mr Hiremath had filed an IA seeking a CEC probe into illegal mining in Chitradurga and Tumkur too. “Our next move is to see the Supreme Court passes stringent orders against those guilty of illegal mining that includes the mining lease holders, bureaucrats and public representatives. We will also plead for the recovery of the ill-gotten wealth from the offenders”, he said. He is being represented in the case by member of the Lokpal Bill Drafting Committee Prashanth Bhushan.
“We do not expect the state government to act on the report as it is steeped in corruption. But a two-page IA linking the details unearthed in the second report with my PIL is expected to be enough to draw the attention of the court to this colossal mining scam,” he claimed.