ORDER :

S.H. Kapadia, CJI., Aftab Alam and K.S.P. Radhakrishnan, JJ.

In the Report dated 18-12-2008 of the Karnataka Lok Ayukta, it is, inter alia, stated that 1081.40 ha of forest area is under illegal mining/encroachment by way of mining pits, overburden dumps, construction of roads, etc., undertaken by various leaseholders outside their sanctioned mining lease area. The break-up of the said area, as given in the Report of the Karnataka Lok Ayukta reads as under:

Sl. No. (in hectares)

1. Encroachment in the form of extraction of iron ore (pit) 147.29

2. Encroachment due to waste dumps 306.07

3. Other type of encroachments 504.09

4. Encroachment due to construction of roads to mines 124.90

Total encroachments 1081.40

Total length of the mining roads (in km) 180.42

2. Out of 99 cases dealt with in the Report, illegal mining/encroachment, as described hereinabove, is taking place in 74 cases (60 cases involve encroachment of forest areas) while, in the remaining 25 cases, the illegal mining/encroachment was not found/surveyed. This position is indicated by the relevant statements annexed to the CEC Report as Annexures R-52 and R-53.

3. In some of the cases, which are brought before us today,