SC moved against withdrawal of nod to Vedanta

BHUBANESWAR/NEW DELHI: The State Government on Monday moved the Supreme Court against withdrawal of environmental clearance to Vedanta group company Sterlite’s bauxite mining project by the Centre in an “arbitrary manner”. Senior advocate K K Venugopal, appearing for Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC), which is in agreement with Sterlite for bauxite mining at Niyamgiri hills, said former environment minister Jairam Ramesh had passed an order withdrawing the environmental clearance just a day before demitting office. The order “has been passed in a wholly arbitrary manner” and “it was difficult to understand the need and urgency for issuing the present order of July 11 to withdraw the environmental clearance itself,” the OMC application said. The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) withdrew the clearance a day before the Cabinet reshuffle, which saw Ramesh moving to the Rural Development Ministry.  “OMC was surprised to find a day prior to the reshuffle of the Union Cabinet on July 11, the MoEF, after setting aside the recommendations of the sub-group, accepted by the EAC (Environment Appraisal Committee), suddenly stated exactly opposite to what it should have said,” the petition said. Venugopal submitted that no mandatory notice was given for the withdrawal of the environment clearance granted on August 30, 2010. OMC had approached the apex court three months ago when MoEF had revoked its forest clearance. A bench of Justices R V Raveendran and Gyan Sudha Misra on Monday issued notice to the MoEF and directed it to file its reply within a week. The matter will come up for hearing after two weeks. The court, meanwhile, also allowed Prafful Samanta, on whose plea the MoEF had taken the action, to file an application to be a party in the matter.  Earlier, on April 21, the apex court, which was acting on an OMC plea, had issued notices to the Orissa Government, the Environment Ministry and Sterlite Industries challenging the cancellation of forest clearance for the Niyamgiri bauxite mining project in the State. OMC had said that as per the agreement, Sterlite had to pay `55 crore in the wildlife fund and `10 crore annually, or 5 per cent of its annual profits, whichever was higher, for development of the area. The MoEF had given in-principle approval to the project in 2007.