IN THE H IGH COURT O F JUDICAT URE, ANDH RA PRADESH AT HYDERA BD (Spec ial Original Jur isdiction) T UESDAY, TH E TWENTIET H DAY O F JU NE TW O THOUSAND AND SIX PRESENT THE HO N’BLE SHRI G. S. SINGH VI, THE CHI EF JUSTICE And TH E HON’BLE SH RI JUSTICE G. V. SEETH APATHY AWRIT P ETITION NO : 1571 OF 200 6 Bet ween: 1. “DHIMSA ” a society reg istered under A .P. Societies Registration A ct 2001 (No . 938 of 2003), having its offi ce at D. No. 9- 22, Lochaliputt u Colony, near Degree Col lege, Paredu, V isakhapatnam District, Rep by its President K. Krishna Rao 2. “SAKTI” a voluntary soci al organization for the uplifm ent of Tribes People, (Re gd. No. 76/85 ) Rampachoda varam, East G odavari Distri ct, Represented by its Dir ector, Dr. P. Si varamakrishna ..PETITI ONERS AN D 1. G overnment of Andhra Prade sh, Rep by it s Principal Sec retary to Gove rnment, Ind ustries and Com merce (Mines ) Department, Secretariat, Hyd erabad 2. P rincipal secret ary to Governm ent, Energy , Forest, Envir onment, Scien ces & Tec hnology, Depa rtment, Secreta riat, Hyderabad 3. P rincipal Secre tary to Gover nment, Tribun al Welfare De partment, Secr etariat, Hyd erabad 4. U nion of India, Rep by its Sec retary to Gove rnment, Depar tment of Envir onment, For ests & Wildlife , Paryavaran B havan, C. G. O. Complex, Lod hi Road, New Delhi. 5. N ational Comm ission for Sched uled Tribes, 6t h Floor, Lok Na yak Bhawan 6. A.P. Mineral Development Corporation Lt d. No. 8-3-9 45, II floor, Pancom Bus iness Center, Ameerpet, Hy derabad-500 0 16 Rep by i ts Vice-chairm an and

and consequently declaring the action of the 1stResponden t in entering in to an agre ement with t he 7thRespond ent in as ext ent of 2,446 h ectars in Ara ku And Sap parla area of Vi sakhapatnam d istrict as viola tive of articles 14,21 and V S chedule to t he constitution of India and th e laws made th ere under inclu ding the provis ions of A.P . Scheduled Ar ea Land Trans fer Regulation , Section 11(5) of Mines & M inerals (Re gulation & Dev elopment) Act , 1958 and Fore st (conservatio n) Act, 1980. Cou nsel for the Pe titioners: SRI A . RAMALING ESWARA RA O. Cou nsel for the Re spondents No.1 to 3: GP FOR INDUSTRIES & COMMER CE. Cou nsel for the Re spondents No. 4 and 5: SHRI MR. S. RAJAS EKHAR RED DY. Cou nsel for the Re spondent No. 6 : GP FOR ENV IRONMENT. Cou nsel for the Re spondent No. 7 : SRI. S. R. AS HOK. The Court made the following: O RDER

HON ’BLE SHRI G . S. SINGHVI, THE CHIEF JUSTICE AND HO N’BLE SHR I JUSTICE G . V. SEETHAP ATHY WRIT PE TITION No. 1 571 OF 2006 Bet ween “DH IMSA”, a soci ety registered under A.P . Societies Reg istration act, 2 001, Paderu, Vis akhapatnam Di strict Rep , by its Preside nt K. Krishna Rao & another ……Pe titioners And Gov ernment of An dhra Pradesh Rep , by its Princip al Secretary, Ind ustries and Com merce (Mines ) Department, Hyd erabad & othe rs ….Resp ondents :: ORDER : : Cou nsel for Petitio ners : Sh ri A. Ramaling eswara Rao Cou nsel for Respo ndent Nos. 1 to 3 : Go vernment Plea der for Ind ustries & Comm erce Cou nsel for Respo ndent Nos. 4 an d 5 : Sh ri A. Raja Sekh ar Reddy Cou nsel for Respo ndent No. 6 : Go vernment Plea der for En vironment Cou nsel for Respo ndent No. 7 : Sh ri S. R. Ashok

In thecoun ter-affidavitfil ed by Shri K. Yadava Reddy , Deputy Secr etary to Gov ernment, indu stries and Com merce Depar tment, the fac tum of an ag reement hav ing been enter ed in to betwee n the State Go vernment and Respondent No . 7 has not been denied, b ut it has averre d that mining lease would be granted to res pondent No. 6 only after ta king forest and environment cl earances. In th e affidavit filed by Ms. Jna ki R. Kondapi, Principal Secr etary to gover nment, Enviro nment Forests Science and Technology D epartment, it h as been averre d the proposal submitted by Andhra Pra desh Mineral Development Corporation (r espondent No. 6) under the Forest (Co nservation) Ac t, 1980 (for sh ort ‘the act’) fo r diversion of forest land for mining Bau xite in Anantag iri and Arakuv alley was rejec ted by the Gov ernment of In dia vide lett er dated 03.05. 2001. It has be en further aver red that fresh p roposals subm itted by resp ondent No. 6 have been for warded to the Principal Secr etary to Gove rnment, EFS& T Departm ent vide PCC F Rc. No. 3 4162/2005-F1 , dated 22.0 2.2006. Acc ording to Ms. Janaki R. Kon dapi, the fresh proposals are pending consi deration bef ore the Central Government. In view of the stand take n by responde nt No. 1 and r espondent No. 2, it is clea t that so-called agreement ent ered in to betw een responde nt No. 7 and t he State Gov ernment can n ot be impleme nted till the Cen tral Governme nt grants perm ission in term s of Section 2(2) of the Act and envir onment clearan ce is granted by the com ponent author ities. Therefore , the Writ Pet ition is liable to be dispose d of as prem ature ordered accordingly. H owever, it is m ade clear that the petitioners shall be free to file fresh p etition as and when the Cent ral Governmen t grants perm ission in term s of Section 2( 2) of the Act a nd environmen t clearance is gi ven by the com petent auth orities. While disp osing of the W rit Petition in t he manner indi cated above, w e make it cl ear that till the required perm ission is obtain ed by the State Government i n terms of S ection 2(2) of the Act as also environment c learance is gra nted by the com petent auth ority, the agre ement entered i n to between r espondent No. 1 and responde nt No. 7 shal l not be implem ented. S d/-C. V. Ram akrishna ASSI STANT REGIS TRAR //TRUE COP Y//

The Vice-Chairm an and Managin g Director A.P . Mineral Dev elopment Corp oration Ltd. No. 8-3-945, I I Floor, Pancom Business Cen ter, Ameerpet, Hyderabad-50 0 016 M/ s. Jindal South West Holdin gs Public Lim ited, Jindal M ansion, 5-A, Dr. G. Des hmuk Marg, M umbai- 400 02 6. Two CCs to Gover nment Pleader for Industries & Commerce, High Court Bu ildings, Hyd erabad (OUT) Two CCs to Gover nment Pleader for Environm ent, High Court Buildings, Hy derabad (OU T) One CC to SRI A. RAMALINGE SWARA RAO, Advocate (OP UC) Two CD copies One CC to Sri A. Rajasekhar Red dy, Assistant S olicitor Genera l of India One CC to Sri S. R .Ashok, Advoc ate (OPUC) M RC* IN THE HIG H COURT O F JUDICATU RE OF ANDH RA PRADESH A T HYDERAB AD W .P.No. 1571 O F 2006 Bet ween:

In d ustries and Com merce (Mines ) Department, Sec retariat, HYDE RABAD And others ... R ESPONDENT S REPLY AF FIDAVIT FIL ED ON BEH ALF OF THE PETITIONER S I, Dr. P. Si varamakrishna, son of late Ve nkatanarsaiah, Hindu, aged a bout 55 yea rs, Director, 'SAKTI', a v oluntary socia l organization , Rampachod avaram, pres ently resident of Hyderabad, do hereby solem nly and sincer ely affirm and state as foll ows: 1. I am the D irector of the 2nd Petitioner organization a nd as such I a m well acq uainted with t he facts of the case. I am aut horized to file this affidavit o n behalf of 1st Petitioner o rganization als o which is also working for t he welfare of tr ibals in Pa deru area cove ring 11 tribal M andals and 5 sub-plan Mand als of Visakha patnam dis trict. I have r ead the counte r affidavit filed on behalf of t he 6th Respond ent and de ny all the ave rments which are not speci fically admitt ed herein and the 6th Re spondent is put to strict proof of the same. T he reply affida vit filed to the counter aff idavit of the 1 st Respondent may be read as part of this a ffidavit as the counter aff idavit of 6th R espondent als o contains sim ilar averments made in the counter aff idavit of the 1 st Respondent. However, in respect of cert ain paragraphs , where dif ferent avermen ts are made, a r eply is filed wh erever it is nee ded. 2 It is subm itted, that the provisions of Mines & M inerals (Regula tion & Dev elopment) Act, 1957 provide for existence o f a mining plan duly approved by the Cen tral Governm ent for the deve lopment of M ineral deposits in the area co ncerned bef ore the State Government g rants the leas e and the 6th Respondent ha ve not pro duced the min ing plan befor e this Hon'ble Court. The 6th Respondent s tated in para 5 that the pla ntation in the m ined area wou ld be taken up by the 7th Res pondent in a phased manne r and it is not known when t he 7th Respond ent is not min ing, how the 7th Respondent can undertake such responsib ility. The 6th R espondent has also not

wit hout explaining the legality of its action in s eeking permiss ion of the Gove rnment to a llow M/s Orien t Cement to ca rry on mining operations for their self cons umption for production of cement in a sc heduled area c ontravening the A.P. Schedul ed Area Lan d Transfer Reg ulations. The alleged measure s taken by the company cann ot make its a ctivity legal. 4. It is subm itted that the 6 th Responden t has already started its act ivity as adm itted by it in p age 5 of the co unter affidavit of conducting gram sabhas in certain vill ages to create awareness and taking some t ribal and pu blic representa tives to Dam anjodi in Oris sa state to show the developm ents even befor e the grant of l eases in its f avour. It is therefo re prayed that the Hon'ble Co urt may be plea sed to allow th e above Wr it Petition with costs and pass such other furt her orders as t his Hon'ble Co urt may deem fit in the circ umstances of t he case. DEPO NENT Sol emnly affirmed and signed his name before m e on this 23r d March, 2006 at Hyderabad. Before m e A dvocate, Hyder abad. IN THE HIG H COURT O F JUDICATU RE OF ANDH RA PRADESH A T HYDERAB AD W .P.No. 1571 O F 2006 Bet ween: "DH IMSA", a soci ety registered u nder

Ind ustries and Com merce (Mines ) Department,Sec retariat, HYDE RABADAnd others … RESPONDENT S RE PLY AFFID AVIT FILED ON BEHA LF OF THE PETITIO NERS I, Dr. P. Siv aramakrishna, son of late Ve nkatanarsaiah, Hindu, aged a bout 55 yea rs, Director, 'SAKTI', a v oluntary socia l organization , Rampachod avaram, pres ently resident of Hyderabad, do hereby solem nly and since rely affirm and state as foll ows: 1. I am the D irector of the 2nd Petitioner organization a nd as such I am well acq uainted with th e facts of the ca se. I am autho rized to file thi s affidavit on b ehalf of 1st petitioner orga nization also w hich is also w orking for th e welfare of t ribals in Pad eru area cover ing 11 tribal M andals and 5 s ub-plan Mand als of Visakha patnam dist rict. I have re ad the counter affidavit filed on behalf of t he 1st Respond ent and den y all the ave rments which are not speci fically admitte d herein and the 1st Res pondent is put to strict proof o f the same. 2. At the out set I submit tha t the counter af fidavit is beref t of details with regard to t he project und ertaken by the 7th Responden t and details of the decision making pro cess involved in the Agreem ent dated 1. 7.2005. It is not known h ow the gov ernment is inv olved in a m atter relating to the contract be tween the 6th and 7th Res pondent and w hether the Cab inet was taken into confidenc e before enter ing into suc h a policy deci sion is not clea r from the cou nter affidavit of the 1st Respo ndent. I subm it that when the Governm ent already is sued G.O.Ms. No.999, Indust ries & Com merce (Mines ) Department, dated 25-10-19 75 to excavate the minerals through publ ic sector corp orations and al so issued G.O .Ms.No.187 da ted 20-09-96 allotting the mining rights of valuable m inerals includi ng Bauxite to the 6th Respo ndent in ord er to enable to transfer its righ ts to an approp riate entrepren eur and collect fees or

Res pondent appea rs to be delibe rately suppres sing the inform ation to this Hon'ble cou rt. This Hon'bl e court may ca ll for the entire record relatin g to the said pr oject in ord er to properly a ppreciate the c ontentions raise d by the petitio ners. 3. Regarding averments in p ara 4 of the cou nter affidavit o f the 4th Respo ndent, I subm it that out o f 612 million tones of bau xite reserves available in A .P., the Gov ernment is com mitted to s upply 240 m illion tones of reserves to the 7th Res pondent at an u nspecified pric e. The commi tment was made even before t he tasks wit h a Governme nt of India und ertaking, M/s National Alum inum compan y are in pro gress. When th e matter relatin g to amendm ent to Land Tra nsfer Regulatio n came up for considerati on before the T ribes Advisor y Counsel way back on 15.9. 1994, it was advisedly dec ided to wait f or decade or s o in view of th e experience o f tribal exp loitation in Bi ladilla in Mad hya Pradesh a nd non accrua l of any benef it from Bha drachalam Pap er Mills in K hammam Distr ict and Devap ur Cement Fa ctory at Adi labad District. But the presen t Agreement w as entered with out going thro ugh the pro cess of obtaini ng the views of the Tribal Advisory Cou ncil and weigh ing the ben efits and loss es to the triba ls living in t hat area. It is submitted that the am endment to the Mines & Mi nerals (Regulat ion & Developm ent) Act, 19 57 was ma de with effect from 14-08-1 991, whereas t he judgment in Samata ca se was rend ered on 11-07 -1997 and th e Hon'ble Sup reme Court t ook note of t he said am endment while rendering the judgement. B ut, the validit y or otherwise of the abo ve amendment did not come up for consider ation in the sa id judgement. The 6th Res pondent being a 'State' withi n the meaning o f Article 12 of the Constit ution of Indi a is supposed to offer the ex cavated Bauxit e to the highes t bidder but no t to the com pany of Gover nment choice. The supply o f material only to the 7th Res pondent by the 6th Respon dent and a com mitment for th e same even before the leas es was gra nted in its favo ur clearly show s the interest o f the Governm ent in favour o f the 7th Res pondent. The 6 th Respondent i s thus a condu it for the 7th Re spondent to ob tain the raw material for i ts proposed ref inery and sme lter for manufa cture of Alum ina and Alum inum. It is further submitt ed that the val uable Bauxite reserves are n ot only me ant for the triba ls living in tho se areas, but is a gift of natur e given for the benefit of t he people of An dhra Pradesh. The Responde nt has not disc losed the benef it to the

m e an that there w ill not be any disturbance to the flora & f auna in the ar ea. Asalre ady submitted in the affidavit filed in suppo rt of the Writ Petition, there are rare bird s in the area an d it is not corr ect to state that there are no en dangered spec ies. As per the report of the Andhra Pradesh Natur al History So ciety, Visakha patnam pre pared in Novem ber 1987, in respect of An dhra Bauxite P roject, they f ound 18 nort hern migrant bird species p assing throug h the area, 12 of which ar e forest dwe lling forms an d probably dep end on the Ea stern Ghats as a habitat corr idor for seas onal moveme nt. It was als o stated therei n that the cont inued and acc elerated clea ring of forest, even in small bi ts, adds up to t he threat to the se birds and als o to the few surviving mam mals like Sam bhar, Barking deer, etc. Th e Governmen t should hav e come up wit h a factual repo rt instead of d enying the exis tence of flora in those area s without any basis. It is su bmitted that a thorough envi ronmental plan will be pre pared before un dertaking any p roject and the counter affidav it is silent with regard to this aspect. I further subm it that there i s no mechan ism envisaged in the Agr eement for sup ervising and r egulating, the v arious control measures indi cated in c) t o o) of the said paragraph exc ept indicating that an environm ental cell wil l be set up w hich will be a n internal man agement wing of the company . It is not kno wn why the Government h urried into an agreement wi thout obtainin g clearances f rom the resp ective departm ents by the Res pondents 6 & 7. 5. Regarding the averments in paras 6 to 9 of the count er affidavit of the 1st Res pondent, it is s ubmitted that t he experience o f M/s NALCO in the State o f Orissa can not be applied to the Andhr a Pradesh as the situation o f forest is alt ogether diff erent in the t wo States. Th e counter affi davit states on one hand th at every prec aution and car e will be taken not to disturb tribal habitati ons while on t he other han d, rehabilitatio n of about 500 0 tribal famili es would be ta ken up on the lines of reha bilitation plan approved by I rrigation Depa rtment specific to the area. I t is not kno wn whether re habilitation tak es place prior t o the implemen tation of the pr oject or afte r uprooting the ir families. Th e counter affid avit is silent wi th regard to th e details of f amilies that ar e likely to be affected by the project. The statement mad e in the cou nter affidavit t hat the entire e xpenditure of t he order of Rs. 300 - 500 cro res will be e armarked by 6 th Respondent b y charging the expenditure to the project wh en read

and forest by the State with utm ost caution an d care. The 1 st Respondent has not ans wered the loss of Rs. 1520.88 crores over a p eriod of 50 yea rs taking the de nsity of the forest area to b e as 0.6 (as per 1991 calculatio ns). 7. Regarding the averment s in para 13 of the counte r affidavit of the 1st Res pondent, it is submitted tha t the amendm ent to Section 11 of the M ines & Mi nerals (Regulati on & Developm ent) Act, 195 7 was made wi th effect from 14-08-199 1, much befor e the Tribal Ad visory Counc il meeting date d 20-07-1995, and the judgm ent of the Ho n'ble Suprem e Court in Sam ata case on 11- 07-1997 and he nce the con tention of the 1 st Respondent t hat it was valid and sustainabl e has no force. 8. Regarding the averments in paras 14 an d 15 of the cou nter affidavit o f the 1st Res pondent, it is submitted that the 1st Respo ndent has sta ted in para 8 that the reha bilitation woul d require an A greement of R s. 300 to 500 c rores, whereas in para 15 i t is stated a pr ovision is mad e to earmark 0. 5% of the reve nue, which m ay be Rs. 12 t o 15 crores per annum and th ese self contra dictory statem ents create dou bt in the min ds of the publi c regarding the seriousness o f the implemen tation of rehab ilitation pac kage and the ca pacity of the 6t h Respondent t o implement th e same. 9. Regarding the averment s in para 16 of the counte r affidavit of the 1st Res pondent, it is submitted that the example o f M/s Orient C ements was s hown in ord er to buttress the contention of the Petiti oners and it i s admitted by the 1st Res pondent that th ere is violation of the judgem ent of the Hon 'ble Supreme C ourt in Sam ata case. The 1st Responde nt is not quite sure about its stand as could be seen from the averment s made in the s aid para. 10. Regarding the averment s in para 17 of the counte r affidavit of the 1st Res pondent, it is s ubmitted that a perusal of the Article 338 w ould show the role of the 5th Responde nt in advisin g on the pl anning proces s of socio-ec onomic dev elopment of S. C.s & S.T.s. T he regulations framed for con duct of the mee tings of Trib al Advisory C ouncil called 'Andhra Prade sh Tribes Ad visory Council Rules, 195 8' require the advise of the c ouncil on any matter pertain ing to the welf are and

cou nteraffidaviti s misleading. I t is not known the necessity of the Governm ent to ente r into an agre ement withthe 7thResponde nt hurriedly ev en before leas es were gra nted in favour o f 6th Responde nt and before preparing a reh abilitation pack age. It is s ubmitted that t he Senior Offic ers of the conc erned departm ents were requ ested to take up the follow up actions an d complete the tasks by 15-07 -2005, but the counter affi davit of the 1st Respondent wh ich was sworn on 09-03-2006 is totally silen t of the vari ous steps take n pursuant to the agreement on 01-07-2005 , meeting held in the cham bers of the Hon'ble Chief Minister on 2 2-04-2005 an d the meeting of the Mi nisters held on 02-07-2005. I apprehend that the 1st Respo ndent is not di sclosing the facts and devel opments taken in respect of t he Bauxite proj ect before this Hon'ble Cou rt. I respective ly submit that there is no m echanism for s upervising the various prom ises made in the interest of t he tribals and e nvironment an d the agreeme nt of the Gov ernment entere d on 01-07-20 05 is not in pub lic interest. It is therefore pray ed that the Ho n'ble Court m ay be pleased to allow the abo ve Writ Peti tion with costs and pass such other further o rders as this Ho n'ble Court m ay deem fit i n the circumsta nces of the cas e. DEPO NENT Sol emnly affirmed and signed his name before m e on this 23r d March, 2006 at Hyderabad. Before m e A dvocate, Hyder abad. IN THE HIG HCOURT O F JUDICATU RE : ANDHR A PRADESH A T HYDERABA D W .P. No. 1571 o f 2006 Bet ween "DH IMSA" a Soci ety registered u nder

COUN TER AFFIDA VIT FILED B Y RESPONDE NT NO. 4 I, Sm ti. Sobhana K amala Sudars ana Rao, W/o. Dr. S. Sudarsa na Rao, age 4 6 years, Occ upation - Indi an Forest Ser vice, R/o. Ban galore, do he reby state on oath as foll ows: 1. That I am w orking as Dep uty Conservat or of Forests (C entral) in the o ffice of Res pondent No.4, as such I am w ell acquainted with the facts of the case an d I am auth orised to file t his affidavit on behalf of Resp ondent No.4 2. That I hav e read the con tents of the af fidavit filed b y the petitione r in the abo ve writ petition and deny all t he averments m ade therein, e xcept that thos e which are specifically adm itted by me h erein after. 3. I n reply to para 5, it is subm itted that prior approval of th e Central Gove rnment und er Section 2 o f Forest (Cons ervation) Act, 1 980, is mand atory for diver sion of fore stland for non- forest purposes . It is also sub mitted that no proposal for d iversion of 305.808 ha. f orest land in f avour of A.P. Mineral Dev elopment Cor poration Lim ited, i.e. the 6t h respondent in respect of the a rea in question , has been rece ived by this respondent so far. As and wh en the propos al is received b y this respond ent, the sam e will be consi dered as per th e provisions of Forest (Conse rvation) Act, 1 980 and dire ctions issued b y Hon'ble Supr eme Court from time to time in the similar c ase and acc ordingly, the d ecision will be taken on the m erits/demerits of the propos al made avai lable by the S tate Governm ent. The other, allegation m ade by the petit ioner is den ied. 4. F or the reasons stated above, th e petitioner is not entitled for any relief soug ht for and the writ petitio n is liable to be dismissed. It is , therefore, pra yed that this Ho n'ble Court m ay be pleased to dismiss the wr it peti tion with costs. Swo rn and signed before me on 13t h Day of Mar ch 2006 in my presence.

IN THE HIGH COURT O F JUDICATUR E OF ANDHR A PRADESH AT HYDERABA D

I., P. Vachaspa thi, S/o. Late S ri P.V.H. Rao, aged 50 years, r/o. Visakhapat nam, Andhra Prades h, having tem porarily come do wn to Hyderab ad, do hereby solemnly affirm and sincerely state on oath a s follows: 1. l am the G eneral Manage r and the autho rised signator y of the 7th res pondent here in, as such I am well acquaint ed with the fac ts of the case a nd do hereby s wear to the contents of this affidavit. 2. I have gon e through the c ontents of the affidavit filed in support of the writ peti tion and deny all the allega tions made th erein, except t o the extent o f those ave rments, which are specificall y admitted to h ereunder. I hum bly submit that the affi davit does not disclose any c ase either on f acts or on law and no case h as been ma de out before th is Honorable c ourt. 3. Adverting t o the averment s made in parag raph No. 1 to 3 of the affidavi t, filed in s upport of the w rit petition, the said averment s relate to the p etitioners and t he peti tioners are put to strict proof o f the same. 4. Adverting to the avermen ts made in par agraph No. 4 o f the affidavit, filed in sup port of the wri t petition, the petitioner is pu t to strict proo f of the allega tions. I furt her submit th at the peculia rity of bauxit e is that bec ause of its c hemical com position, no v egetation will grow over the area in which the bauxite is present exc ept for growth of Phoenix Aca culis (Amla). 5. Adverting to t he averments m ade in paragr aph No 5 of the affidavit, filed in sup port of the wr it petition, the said allegatio ns is incorrect and the petit ioner is brin ging in issues and facts whic h are not releva nt in the prese nt case. The p roposal of N alco for leas e over the Jer rella area has nothing to do with the pres ent writ peti tion. The are a for which M /s. Nalco is tr ying to obtain lease is separ ate and dist inct from the area in which 6th respondent w ill carry out the mining op eration. The allegation th at the governm ent is utilis ing the 6th re spondent in o rder to circ umvent the dec ision of the Ho nourable Supr eme Court of I ndia and to ent rust the land to 7th respon dent is false. The 6th respo ndent wished to exploit the bauxite rese rves in these areas and requ ires a ready-m ade market for the bauxite. In these circ umstances, the 7th respondent came up with a proposal to s et up a refiner y and a

soci al infrastructu re like health, education, trai ning and welf are of the trib als The peti tioners are see king to twist t he facts and m ake out, as if the 6threspond ent is a sm all time organiz ation, which is being used as a devise to und ertake activitie s which are prohibited. 6. Adverting to the avermen ts made in par agraph No. 6 o f the affidavit, filed in sup port of the writ petition, the sa id averments r elate to the pro posed mining a ctivities of t he 6th respond ent. The petit ioner is put to strict proof of the allegatio ns made ther ein. However, the allegation that there woul d be large-scal e disturbances of birds spe cies and destru ction of trees in the various areas is incor rect. The bau xite ore wou ld be transport ed to the refin ery by way of railway wagons and pipe conv eyor or slur ry pipeline. Th ere is already a n existing rail way line and th e bauxite ore w ould be tran sported on tha t existing rail way line. Furth er, the petitio ner is referrin g to the Jerr ella mines whi ch according to the petitioner i s being given to Nalco. It is n ot clear as t o how the deta ils relating to the Jerrella m ines are relevan t for the prese nt case. The Jerrella area m entioned by th e petitioner is a t a distance of 10 to 15 Kms from the Sap parla area. Th e allegation o f the petition er that there would be lar ge-scale dest ruction of tree s would not b e correct. The f orest departm ent had condu cted an enum eration of tr ees in the Arak u area in 199 8. This enum eration would clearly sho w that the loss of trees would be to the exte nt of Rs. 23 lak hs at 1998 val ue. The acti vity of the sev enth responde nt would not. in any manner affect the fore st area, inasm uch as, the l and identified for the project of the seventh respondent is situated out side the forest lands. There a re no water bo dies in the pro posed mining a rea and the claim of the petitioner that water bodies would be affe cted is incorre ct. The alle gation by the petitioner that various birds a nd animals in the area w ould be affe cted is misplac ed. In any eve nt, this issue w ould be gone into by the co ncerned offi cial agencies b efore appropria te environment al clearances ar e given. 7. Adverting to the avermen ts made in par agraph No. 7 o f the affidavit, filed in sup port of the wri t petition, this respondent is n ot aware whet her the tribal a dvisory cou ncil was consu lted before iss ue of G.O.Ms.N o. 264 dated 7.8.1991. How ever, it wou ld be pertinen t to mention th at the Governm ent of Andhr a Pradesh had already issu ed G.O.Ms.No . 999 dated 2 5.10.1975 res erving the bau xite bearing a reas in Vis akhapatnam an d East Godava ri District in f avour of publi c sector under takings. Fur ther, the Hono urable Suprem e Court of Ind ia, in its judgem ent reported in AIR 199 7 SC page 329 7, in the case o f Samatha Vs. State of A.P. ha d considered t he issue of w hether "person " as defined u nder Section 3( 1) of the A.P. S cheduled Are as Land Tra nsfer Regulatio n, would inclu de both natur al persons as w ell as juristic persons

surv ives in the pre sent writ petitio n. 8. Adverting to the avermen ts made in par agraph No. 8 o f the affidavit, filed in sup port of the wri t petition, the c ontention that consent of Nat ional Commis sion for Sch edule Tribes h as to be obtain ed under Artic le 338 of the C onstitution of India is inco rrect. There i s no such prov ision under Ar ticle 338 of th e Constitution and the lang uage of Articl e 338 cannot be stretched to re quire the Unio n or any state t o obtain san ction of the Na tional Comm ission for Sche dule Tribes for establishment of any indu stry in the sch edule areas. 9. Adverting to the averment s made in para graph No. 9 of the affidavit, fi led in sup port of the writ petition, it is s ubmitted that th e said avermen ts do not make out any case requiring the governmen t to make any e fforts as claim ed by the petiti oner. 10. Adverting t o the averment s made in para graph No. 10 of the affidavit, filed in sup port of the wit petition, the all egations relate to the 6th respo ndent and the peti tioner is put to strict proof of t he same. The 7th respondent has always und ertaken esta blishment of h ealth delivery s ystems and edu cational institu tions in and aro und the areas in which its units are loc ated as a meas ure of corporat e social respons ibility. The establishment of the refinery and smelter by the 7th respond ent in the state of A.P. and outside the sch edule areas wo uld result in a m assive investm ent of Rs. 900 0 cror es directly on t he refinery and smelter. Once the unit is runn ing, the availa bility of alum inium in large quantities wou ld result in the establishment of downstream units. All these would cl early result in g eneration of lar ge-scale emplo yment both dir ect and indi rect and increa sed revenues fo r the state. As submit ted above, the 7th responden t unit would be set up outs ide the sch edule areas and would in no m anner affect an y of the provi sions of law wh ich are bein g raised by the petitioner in the writ p etition. The r espondent her ein has abs olutely no role to play in the m atter of mining nor does it pr opose to under take the sam e in any event uality. The agr eement entered into by the 6t h Respondent with the 7th R espondent doe s not provide f or any such co ntingency. The 7th Responden t would onl y be buying th e mineral exca vated by 6th R espondent, for being utilize d in the indu stry proposed to be set up b y this responde nt. However, i n the eventuali ty of 6th Res pondent requis itioning any i nfrastructure, 7th Responden t would be wi lling to sup ply infrastructu re for consider ation., subject to its resource s and availabil ity. The indu strial practice all over the wo rld is to site t he smelters an d refineries as close to the bauxite ore as possible. The establishment of the Alum ina refinery by the 7th

Vis akhapatnam, A ndhra Pradesh, havingtempor arily come dow n to Hyderabad , do here by declare that the facts state d above in para graphs 1 to 6, 9 and 10 are tru e and corr ect to the best of my knowled ge and the cont ents of the para graphs No. 7 a nd 8 are believed to be t rue and correct based on the l egal advise of o ur counsel. He nce, veri fied on this the Day of Februa ry, 2006 at Hy derabad. IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATUR E OF ANDH RA PRADE SH AT HY DERABAD W.P .No. 1571 of 2006

1. I am the Deputy Secr etary to Gove rnment, Indus tries and Com merce Dep artment, A.P. S ecretariat, Hyd erabad and am well acquaint ed with the fac ts of the case and authorize d to file this co unter on behalf of the 1st Resp ondent herein. 2. At the outset it i s respectfully submitte d that the writ petition is not maintainable eit her on facts or in law. All the averm ents made in the Petit ioners' affidavits are d eemed to have been de nied except otherwise s pecifically admitted he rein. 3 In replyto paras 1 to 4 of the affidavit, i t is submitted that the petitio ners are put to strict proof of the same. T his respondent is not aware o f the bona fide s of the peti tioners in filin g the present writ petition a nd relief soug ht by the Petit ioner is tota lly untenable. It is submitted that the Writ Petition is lia ble to be dism issed in lim ine. a) It is respec tfully submitte d that the writ petitioners did not make out a case to decl are that part o f the proviso to sub-section 5 of Section 1 1 of the Act w hich is und er challenge as unconstitution al. (b) It is true t hat bauxite bea ring area in E G and Visakh patnam district except thos e already lea sed out are re served for ex ploitation in t he public sect or vide Not ification issued in GO Ms.No. 999, Ind. & C om. Dt. 25-10-1 975. 4. In reply to para 5 of the affidavit, it is respectfully su bmitted that Ba uxite is basi cally an alum inous rock with hydrated alum inium oxide a s the main con stituent wit h varying prop ortions of iron oxide, silica a nd generally ti tania. It is an e ssential ore of aluminium m etal which is one of the mos t important non -ferrous metal s used in the modern indust ry. It is also an essential ore f or refractory an d chemical in dustries. The country has a bundant resour ces of bauxite which can m eet both dome stic and exp ort demands. a) The total r eserves of baux ite in the coun try are placed at 3,076 millio n tones. Indi a occupies 5t h position in the world Ba uxite map aft er Guinea, Au stralia, Ven ezuela and Vi etnam. Out o f this Orissa a ccounts for 1 529 million to nes and And hra Pradesh ac counts for 612 million tones a nd occupies se cond position i n India. M ajor bauxite rese rves are conce ntrated in the East Coast bau xite deposits o f Orissa and Andhra Prade sh. These d eposits are m ostly of metall urgical grade and are am enable for extra ction of allum inium metal. b) The Gover nment of AP vi de G.O. Ms. N o. 999, Ind. & Com., (Mines- I) Dept.

c) TheAPM DC beingaState owned undert aking has appli ed for grant of Mining leas es U/s 11(5) of M&M(D&R) Act, 1957 for 3 B auxite deposi ts in Araku gro up with an e stimated reser ve of 54.47 m illion ions and f or 22 Bauxite deposits in Chi ntapalli gro up with an estim ated reserve o f 515.97 milli on tonnes. For est and Environm ental clea rances are pre requisites for g rant of mining leases. The M ining leases ar e yet to be g ranted to APM DC by the Gov ernment. d) M/s. Natio nal Aluminium Company ( NALCO) is a Government o f India und ertaking engag ed in productio n of Alluminium in the count ry looking for areas of exp ansion of Alum ina / Allumini um production. State Governm ent has invite d them to A. P. and th ey have evinc ed interest in the Jerrella group of dep osits in Vis akhapatnam Di strict for establ ishing Allumi na / Allurninium industry. Dis cussions bet ween Governm ent of Andhra Pradesh and G overnment of India / NALC O are in pro gress. After fin alization, the m ining and ext raction of baux ite will be und ertaken by APMDC for su pplying the sam e to NALCO's proposed indus try. e) Meanwhil e, the 7th resp ondent approa ched the Stat e Government with a pro posal to set up refinery and sm elter for man ufacture of Alum ina and Alum inium wit h a capital outl ay of about Rs. 9,000 crores. Since there are surplus reserv es after me eting this dem and of NALCO and having s atisfied that th ey have exper ience in vari ous sectors an d capability to set up such a unit, the State Government a greed to sup ply Bauxite fo r their propose d unit. Accord ingly, the Stat e Government and 7th resp ondent signed an MOD on 01 /07/2005. f) As per the Moll, the APM DC shall ha ve the Mining leases and M ine the Bau xite and supply to the Industr y of 7th respond ent. It was dec ided that such supplies shal l be made fr om the depos its in Araku g roup (Galiko nda, Rakthako nda & Chi ttamgondi) and Sapparla gro up consisting a pproximately of 2,446 hecta res and con taining about 2 40 million tonn es of reserves. Thus, it is fact ually incorrect that the Gov ernment is p ursuing leasin g activity of Bauxite reser ves in favour of 7th resp ondent throug h 6th responde nt. The MoU i s only for sup ply of material for the Ind ustry of 7th resp ondent and the 7th responden t is in no way c onnected with grant of Mi ning leases or t he Mining acti vities. The exc avated Ore wil l be supplied t o the 7th resp ondent at the p rice fixed by a Committee fo rmed by the St ate Governm ent. The 7th Respondent sh all establish Re finery and Sm elter Units out side scheduled areas as per M oU. g) As per the MoU the 7th r espondent shal l train local tri bals for utilizi ng their

5. In reply to para 6 of the affidavit, it is respectfully su bmitted that A PMDC pro poses to extrac t Bauxite ore i nitially from th e three areas si tuated in Arak u group and not from Jerre lla area. These 3 deposits are a way from vill ages and are lo cated on top of the hills wh ere there is no habitation. The Mining opera tions will not b e taken up at a time in t he entire area granted but o nly in a phas ed manner as per the requ irement and a s per approved Mining Plans . The mined a reas will be re claimed and the same woul d be made mo re suitable for p lantation and t he plantation w ould be take n up in a phase d manner. a) It may be r elevant to men tion that where the Bauxite m ineral is prese nt, there will not be any tr ee growth exc ept on the flan ks of the Hill s. The plateau tops of Chi ttamgondi, Gal ikonda and Ra ktakonda are b ald and do not support any ve getation wor th mentioning as Forest. Ther e are no endan gered specie of flora on these hills. b) As mentio ned in the pre vious Para the Forest and E nvironment cl earances from Government of India are pr e-requisites for grant of the M ining leases. T hus the For est and Enviro nment factors will be taken care by the G overnment of India's age ncies and the A PMDC shall h ave to follow t heir guidelines in this matter . As per the Forest (Conse rvation) Act, 1980, alternate land equal to the applied a rea for min ing lease, app roach roads, si te services, dum ping yard et c., (as require d under Mi nes Act, 1952 ,) in Reserv e Forest tow ards Compen satory Affore station, enum eration charg es towards tre e growth in the applied and o ther required Reserve For est area, Affo restation char ges in the l and proposed under Com pensatory Aff orestation and the Net Pres ent Value (NP V) of the Re serve Forest area are requ ired (proposed to be recomm ended) to be attended to by APMDC for g rant of Mi ning leases. Sim ilarly, with re gard to environm ental aspects , echo-friendly mining ope rations will ha ve to be carr ied without e ndangering env ironmental at tributes. Sus tainable develo pment and mi neral conservati on are the conc epts of mining . As per the stipulations la id down by M inistry of Env ironment & Fo rests, Governm ent of Indi a, the followin g environmenta l aspects also w ill be taken ca re of by APM DC. C) AIR AND NO ISE POLLUTIO N CONTRO L: ' AIR ENVI RONMENT A. R aktakonda/Ga likonda and Ch ithamgondi du e to mining ac tivity and hauli ng road at p it heads.

h eightsonthe edge of min es will be don e to control t he dust and fo r noise attenuationsign ificantly. 4. Exhaust fume s of the mini ng machinery's will be min imized by sys tematic ma intenance sched ules. Special c are will be take n for regular tu ning of the en gines to che ck partial com bustion and redu ce Nox, CO an d HC emission s into the atm osphere. 5. T o minimize du st pollution at other sources, measures such a s wet drilling at mine face s, adoption of hoods at trans fer points, pro per design of chutes, vulcani zing of con veyor belt join ts, under belt cleaning devic es will be don e. Monitoring of the SPM , NOx and S0 2 will be carrie d out daily, at s ources, to keep the pollution l evels in che ck. B. O re conveyanc e system. 1. N o emission apa rt from dust is expected from ropeway conve yor system. 2. T he ore convey ance system w ill be covered to reduce the dust hazard al ong the rout e. The convey ance scheme o f the system w ill be selected as to blend w ith the surr ounding. d) NOISE EN VIRONMEN T Sin ce residential colonies and t ownships will be located a way from the mining prem ises and outs ide the forest limit, noise m ay not be a major human concern. How ever, abatem ent measures w ill be taken to minimize nois e and Vibratio n levels and reduce pressu re on other fa una. Dense be its of trees wil l be erected t o act as aco ustic barriers. A 50m wide be lt of trees of di fferent heights is especially u seful to act as noise attenua tion in the mi ning areas. e) WATER ENVIRONME NT 1) As the prel iminary explor ation work carr ied out at the t hree deposits r evealed, no permanent wat er table exists within the zon e of mining op eration, theref ore the hyd rographic syst em of the dep osits comprise s of atmosphe ric precipitatio n only. Kee ping in view the large atm ospheric precip itation in the r egion with an annual ave rage rainfall of 1200 mm, ca re will be take n to prevent t he surface wat er from ente ring into mini ng area for m inimizing the w ater pollution . The entry of surface

4) regards the effect of mini ng on aquifer c onditions with probable redu ction in the discharge of th e perennial spr ings or even th e elimination o f some of the springs, it is worth citing t he experiences of a similar B auxite mine (P anchapatmali held by NA LCO in Orissa) , which is locat ed 70 KM aeri al distance from the study site s. It has sho wn a different t endency. The continuous m onitoring of the rate of flow of water in the nearby, spring s at Panchpatm ali Bauxite m ines showed im proved discha rge rate and also water, fr ee of any chem ical pollution . This can be attributed to in creased see page of the sur face water thro ugh the rocks a nd enhanced recharging cap acity of the ground water reservoir on a ccount of expo sure of more porous and pe rmeable surf ace, after mi ning, as com pared to the o riginal consol idated and re latively im pervious lateriti c capping that e xisted before r emoval of over burden and Ba uxite in the area. As the g eographical st ructure, topogr aphy, mining d eposit forma tion and min ing activity a re similar to Panchpatmali mining area, s imilar results can be exp ected in this re gion too. f) LAND EN VIRONMENT The total land requ irement for the project is 244 6 Ha., located on hill tops in r eserved fore st area. Out of this only part o f the area will be used for m ining, but not th e entire area at a time. To keep the eco logical balance as far as pos sible undistur bed, the min ing process wi ll be phased a nd planned suc h that as the mining progres ses, the rem ediation and af forestation pro grammes shall be followed sim ultaneously. g) MINE O VERBURDEN AND DRAINAG E. 1) The bau xite deposits in the three plate aus are well ex posed and for the first eigh t years, it is ex pected that the re will be no so lid waste gener ation. The laye r below bau xite capping, ie. Khondali te, will not b e touched upon. The pi ling of was tes/overburden is a temporar y/ makeshift a ctivity. The p iling will be d one on unm ined area of ba uxite deposit i tself and the ne gligible overbu rden, if generat ed, will be t ransferred bac k to the mined- out area. A rin g bund (toe wa ll) and drain a ll along dum ps will be form ed so that rai nwater is retai ned at the toe itself and is pr evented from entering stream s. 2) A minim um margin of set back of 15 m from plateau edge will be p rovided at p laces where steep slopes o r scrafs are e ncountered. Th is ground ba rrier at peri phery will ens ure the safety of mine worke rs and machine ry. This also p revents the runoff of mudd y water from t he mines. This natural curtain helps in preser ving the

sup port any veget ation except fo r luxuriant gro wth of Phoeni x Acaculis. Ex cept for Chi thamgondi mi ne site, at the o ther two mine sites the quant ity of topsoil is almost neg ligible. Irrespe ctive of the qu antity of top so il at all these mine sites, the top soil will be stockpiled separately an d ahead of the mining faces by a combin ation of bull dozers, wheel loaders and dumpers. The topsoil so rem oved will b e again recl aimed and spre ad over the m ined out areas ba ckfilled by ove rburden to hel p future plan tation. 2) The soil will be dozed and stockpiled in a separate dump of 6-7 m height. The limited heigh t of the dum p will facilitat e in stock pili ng and reclaim ing by exc avators/front en d loaders envis aged for this p urpose. 3) Simultan eously after ex ploitation of or e, all hard later ite overburden / wastes will be dumped in the worked out area of the m ine and covered by topsoils he aped for the purpose, in ter races. These te rraces (with sm all benches) w ill provide acc ess for reve getation as w ell as proper drainage and e rosion control . The construc tion of dive rsion channels all along the roads and road side plantation will help in a rresting run off and prevent soil erosion. 4) For stab ilization of bac k filled area a nd to check ero sion, the back fill will be g raded and com pacted by com pactors/dozers. This will red uce the porosit y of the bac k filled area an d reduce the p ossibility of s lides due to ex cessive water content. The spreading of t opsoil on com pacted back fill will facilitate t he vegetation w hich in turn controls acid water formatio n. Thus, the plateau, which is presently de void of any vegetation, wi ll after reclam ation and aff orestation becom e green with native spe cies. 5) Suitable drainage sys tem will be p rovided in th e back filled area for coll ecting the exce ss rainwater. A fter clarificati on it will be dr ained into the existing stre ams. I) BIOLOG ICAL ENVIRO NMENT: 1) To m inimize the e cological imbal ance due to m ining activity, con siderable affor estation will be taken up. Th e following ar eas have been selected for intensive affore station. a) B ack filled area over the platea us of Raktakon da/Galikonda a nd Chithamgo ndi.

slop ing areas. To arrest soil erosi on, planting o f shrubs and gr ass will be tak en first; this will also stabil ize the slopes. b) H ill slopes: The hill slopes of the area are com paratively thi ckly forested t han the plateau and the surr ounding plains . The vegetati on on the slop es will be aff ected due to l aying of con veyors and con struction of ro ads. In addition , the plantatio n on the upper zone of the slope will be a ffected due to mining activitie s and construc tion of contour drains. To compensate the se losses of ve getation, it is p roposed to take up plantation of trees on t he slopes of hil l at suitable pla ces. Bot h sides of the c ontour drain wi ll be provided with two rows of shrubs. Adj acent to shru bs, rows of tr ees will be pl anned at about 1.5 m x 1.5-m interval. If p ossible com pensatory affo restation may be taken up in the adjacent p lateaus and hil l slopes outs ide the dense f old area. c) B auxite transpo rtation ropew ay corridor: The ore will be tra nsported by co vered conveyor system and at that time the c onveyor corr idor width wil l be kept to a minimum to c ause least defo restation. Affo restation will be planned to make up the losses due to d eforestation, el sewhere by pr oviding belt vegetation alo ng the corridor , outside the f orest area. Wh erever steep sl opes are enc ountered, neces sary steps wil l be taken to p revent land sli des/soil erosio n during cutt ing and filling operation. d) A long Approac h Road: Com pensatory pla ntation is prop osed all along the approach r oad of 18 m w idth on bot h sides. These p lantation will be one time job with post plan tation care for about 3 yea rs. Apart from maintaining t he ecological b alance, these p lantation will help in arre sting soil erosi on particularly in steep hill cut slopes. e) T ownships: Tow nships to accom modate the p eople working in the project are out side the Forest area since the pro posed plant is only be outsid e the forest ar ea. Only in re spect of min ing activity a l imited area wi ll be occupied for township. T he habitations are far

wit h experts from forest and A gricultural de partments. Tec hnical guidanc e from Indi an Institute of Forestry, Dehra dun can also b e sought for the purpose. k) SOCIO-EC ONOMIC EN VIRONMEN T: The Mining activi ties have been observed to be instrumental in enhancing t he living con ditions and ac tiveness of the local populat ion in backwa rd areas by pr oviding add itional opportu nities for em ployment and b ringing me dical, educatio nal and dom estic commun ication faciliti es within their r each. The pro posed bauxite mining acti vities provide t hese facilities t o the local pop ulation. l) EM PLOYMEN T AND BUSI NESS PROMO TION: The proposed min ing project sha ll generate em ployment for m ore than 1000 persons dire ctly and more i ndirectly. The 6th respondent a lready selected 200 tribal yout h from the surrounding ar eas for training. m) EDUCATIO NAL FACILITI ES: The literacy rate in the area is ver y low. The Mi ning agency sha ll establish a s chool in the area-centralized education for 200 nos of trib al youth with a ll facilities like sports, libr ary etc. n) M EDICAL FA CILITIES: Hea lth facilities in cluding mobile clinics will be provided. o) R EHABILITA TION AND W ELFARE M EASURES: 1) The mo st important asp ect of the proj ect is to earm ark about Rs.30 0 crores for rehabilitation of affected tri bal population by charging to the project c ost, for taki ng up the follo wing measures : i) id entification of affected famili es ii) a llotment of alt ernate cultivabl e / irrigated lan d. iii) Providing perm anent houses.

3) The surrou nding villages will also be benefited from the project welfare me asures as listed below: 1. L aying of roads connecting vill ages. 2. P rovision of dri nking water. 3. P rovision of Pos t office, Bank, Community ha ll etc. 4. P rovision of Co- operative stor es, recreation cl ubs etc. 5. P rovision of tran sportation and communicatio n system. p) EMP IM PLEMENTATIO N AND MO NITORING S YSTEM: 1) A monitoring st rategy will b e evolved to e nsure that all the env ironmental me asures suggeste d are impleme nted and monit oring of enviro nmental reso urces is carrie d out to provid e an early wa rning of any u ndesirable cha nges or tren ds. 2) To meet the above objective an environmental cell will be se t up for the bauxite mines a t Araku with t he responsibilit y of implement ation of EMP a nd post ope ration monitori ng. The function of th e cell shall be (i) T o oversee the environmental control measur es to be implem ented as per a pproved acti on plan. (ii) To keep wat ch on flow pa ttern streams/ nallah/rivers an d keep vigil on the effi ciency of water management s ystem. (iii) To look for po ssible erosion , silting, dum p and bench fa ilures, supervi sion of sam pling and anal ysis of water, ai r, soil and nois e level. (iv) To follow effe cts of project a ctivities on the standing floral pattern in the v icinity. (v) Prepare and execute af forestation schem es.

age ncies like APP CB, MOEFetc.(xi) To check the g eneral health o f the workers a t mining site. (xii ) To interact and ilaise with State/Central Government de partments, (xii i) To submit pe riodical monito ring reports to MOEF/APPCB . (xiv ) To get cons ent orders from APPCB un der Air (Prev ention and co ntrol of poll ution) Act, 198 1 and Water (P revention and control of pollu tion) Act, 1974 . q) ENVIRO NMENTAL CE LL i) M anpower, 1) The EMC shall be an in ternal managem ent wing. It shall be appro priately equ ipped with qua lified/experien ced manpower who could op erate full-tim e on the im plementation of the EMP and i n liasing with t he enforcement agencies. 2) The clearan ces will be giv en by the resp ective departm ents after fulfil ling the pro visions in the A cts. 6) It may be m entioned that i n the neighbori ng State of Ori ssa, where the Bauxite Dep osits extended in the north ern side, M/s . NALCO, a Government o f India und ertaking is alre ady carrying ou t mining opera tions since 198 6 (with initial capacity of 2 .3 million ton s) and at prese nt with a capa city of 4.8 mi llion tons and planning furt her expansion to 6.3 million t ons per annum by observing a ll the environm ental, min ing, wild life, ecology, etc ., as per rule s and regulatio ns of the Acts of State & C entral Governm ents as ment ioned above. It is on the sam e lines, 6th res pondent will undertake ex ploitation of B auxite on its own in AP an d ensure that the Eco Sys tem and Envir onment are no t disturbed by the Mining A ctivity protec ting the Flor a, Fauna and Wild Life if any. It wo uld undertake mining as per the gui delines/stipulati ons as p rescribed by the res pective auth orities. 7) It is submitted tha t mining is undertaken by only State undertak ing i.e., M/s. A. P. Mineral Developme nt Corporation limited duly taking every preca ution and care not to d isturb tribal habitation s. The condi tions imposed by the Government of India fo r obtaining environm ental clearance etc., wil l be strictly followed s o as to com ply with certain conditi ons including (a) paym ent of compensatory a fforestation charges (b ) NPV (Net Present Va lue) (c) Provi ding substitute compe nsatory afforestation la nd etc.,

10) Keeping the abo ve objective in view, a n MoU was entered int o with M/s. Jindal Sou th West Holdings Lim ited for liftin g the Ore and conversi on of the same into Alum inia / Aluminium by starting (a) Refinery (b) Smelter (c) Captive Generation Plant and (d) other allied inf rastructure at an estim ated cost ranging from Rs.5000-14000 crores in three phases. An in vestment of that m agnitude would result in creation of employm ent and bringing prop erties to the area, the proposal of M/s. Jindal South West Holdings Limited has been agreed for establ ishment of refinery, sm elter and captive powe r plant outside the trib al area witho ut having any adverse influence on the tribal population, while at th e same time help the t ribals. Action of the st ate Gove rnment for entering int o an MoU is purely an administrative de cision to generate employment and prosp erity in tribal area. It may also be m entioned here that the M oU speaks of the con ditions under which th e ore is to be supplied and if for any r eason, M/s. JSWH Lim ited does not lift the e xcavated ore, APMDC / State Government w ill have the discretion to select any o ther prospective buyer . Apart from the abo ve, the price at which t he ore is supplied is al so regulated by a Comm ittee of Secre taries/experts along with the stakeholders to be constituted by Government. 11) Thus, it is clearl y be seen that mining a ctivity is purely undert aken by State Governm ent through APMDC to protect the in terest of tribals and M oU with Jindal is only for conversion of exca vated mineral into val ue added product of Al umina / Alum inium outside the agen cy area with right of G overnment / APMDC to supply Ore to any o ther prospective buyer . In pursu ance of the Moll, the* APMDC Ltd., will fur ther enter into separate Agreements not only with M/s. JSWH Lim ited but with other agencies as well depe nding on the need and the services required. 12) The allegation th at the flora and fauna will be threatened by v irtue of the mining wh ich is only at conceptu al stage is misc onceived and apprehen sive. It would not be o ut of place to mention that this respondent wi ll take all necessary ste ps to rehab ilitate the tribals and o thers and all statutory permissions before sta rting any mining opera tion. Every step requir es to be taken to protect the environm ent, tribal culture and forests will be taken by the State with utm ost caution and care. Th e appre hensions of the writ pe titioners are unfounde d and premature. 13) In reply to para 7 of the affidavit it is re spectfully submitted t hat the Tribal Advisory Council at its meetin g held 20.07 .1995, after analyzing the views of all the po litical members and of ficial members, conclu ded that mining leases should not be gi ven to non-tribals or pri vate agencies. It was o bserved that either Go vernment or Governm ent Corporations alone should explo it the mineral deposits found in the scheduled areas. Thus, the ame ndment brought about b y inserting sub-section 5 to sectio n 1 1 of Mines & Min erals (D&R) Act, 1957 is in tune with the dec ision of the Hon'ble S upreme Court in Sam atha Judgem ent Dated 11.07.199 7. Accordingly the am endment is valid and s ustainable. 14) As mention ed in the paras supra the Stat e Government made its intent ion very clea r that the Min ing lease will b e held by 6th respondent alo ne and Mining will be don e by the 6th re spondent only. As per the M oU the Bauxite O re will be sup plied to 7th respondent at a considerati on. As already mentioned 6th respondent s hall be gra nted with Min ing leases only after taking F orest and env ironmental cle arances. The APMDC shal l ensure Minin g operations as per the guidel ines prescribe d by the resp ective departm ents. 15) The State Gover nment is insisting that the Mining leases shou ld be held by APMDC for the effective man agement of envir onmental issues and re habilitation of tribal po pulation. Accordingly , a provision is made t o earmark 0.5 percent of the reven ue which may be Rs. 1 2 to Rs. 15 crores per annum for social infra structure, training and welfare of the tribals. Further, 25 % ou t of the statutory paym ent of the royalty whic h may be around Rs. 3 .5 crores per annum w ould be utilized for dev elopment of the tribais. Thus, the prop osed mining of Bauxit e would certainly accr ue benefits to the local tribal population and help their devel opment. 16. It is subm itted that the p etitioner conte nds that the s pirit of amend ment is

vide G.O.Ms.No.2 22, dated 18.3. 2000.However , the Governm ent is contemp lationtorevi ew G.O.Ms.No .222, dated 18 .3.2000 so as to enable the 6 th respondent alonetoextr act the mineral and supply the same to the pu rchasers. 17. In reply to para.8 it is subm itted that Arti cle 338 provide s for constituti on of N ational Comm ission for Sche duled Castes an d Article 338- A provides for con stitution of Nat ional Commiss ion for schedul ed tribes. A fai r reading of the se two Articles make s it clear that it is intended to p rotect the inter ests of S.Cs and S.T s in the manner provided there under. Howeve r, none of thes e Articles stip ulate consent fr om the Nation al Commission for Scheduled Tribes before | ini tiating any pro cess for establi shment of indu stries in Sched uled Area. As a ma tter of fact ther e is no industr y set up by the 7th responden t in the schedu led area and the question o f consent as all eged by the Pe titioner does no t arise. It is su bmitted that purpose of Art icles 338 and 338A is not ref erable at all to the scheduled areas as the same is gover ned under V S chedule of the Constitution o f India. It is however subm itted that this respondent wi ll consult the N ational Comm ission before g ranting leas e/undertaking t he mining acti vity. 18. A meeting was convened with the Legis lators represen ting tribal area s by the Hon 'ble Ministers for Mines & Geology, Co mmercial Taxe s, Forests and Tribal W elfare on 19/12/ 2005 and expl ained the com plete details of the proposed Bauxite Mi ning by the 6t h respondent, the arrangemen t for supply of material to the 7th resp ondent and al so the commi tment of the G overnment to wards developm ent of trib als and the pr oposals in tha t direction. In the said me eting convened by the Hon 'ble Ministers, all the appreh ensions express ed by the mem bers pertainin g to this proj ect were clarif ied. 19) The apprehensio ns of the Petitioners m entioned in this para o f the affidavit about th e contents of the projec t report, are prem ature and unfounded. T his Respondent unde rtakes to take all neces sary precessions befor e permitting mining ac tivity by the 6t h respondent in the trib al area. 20) In reply to para. 9, the contention of the Petitioner that the Gov ernment have issued G.O.Ms.No.98, dated 1 3.10.99 issuin g guidelines for consti tution of Tribal Minin g Cooperative Societie s and G.O.Ms.No.24, dated 11.3.2002 for en trusting prosp ecting of semi preciou s stones and creation of small hydro power projects to such societi es. It is further contend ed that simil ar steps in so far as mi ning of bauxite have no t been taken. It is subm itted that mining of b auxite involves huge f inancial inves tment, deployment of heavy machinery and a lso technical knows ho w. It is totally unwise and impracticable to burden these societies with huge fin ancial burden. The Sta te Government is keen in taking steps to in volve the Tribal Minin g Coop erative Societies wher ever it is feasible and v iable. 21) It is incorr ect to say that n o effort was m ade in respect of Bauxite for sharing of t he benefits of proposed pro ject. As alread y mentioned in the previou s Para a

that a proper rehab ilitation packag e would be an nounced at the time of grant of lease in f avour of the 6t h respondent a nd also require d care would be taken to pro tect the inte rests of schedu led tribes in sc heduled areas. So far as the in stances referre d by the Peti tioner in Para. 10, proper com pensation has a lready been pa id and all the i nstances are cited out of c ontext without placing any m aterial and m aking any of them as part y-respondents against whom allegations ar e made. Acco rdingly the sam e are liab le to be rejecte d. 23) The apprehensio ns of the Petitioners ar e unfounded and are bl own out of proportion . The allegation that th is Resp ondent should not be a llowed to proceed with the proposed action w ithout ensuring safegu ards, is totally miscon ceived and presum ptuous. The Respon dent, a 'State' under Ar t. 12 of the Constitutio n of India, will adhere to all statutory respon sibilities and a lso take-up the welfare measures for the over -all development of the tribals and the tribal a reas before starting an y mining activi ty. The writ petition is pre-mature. 24) In reply to Para 1 1 of the affidavit it is respectfully submitted that the contention of the petitioner is not co rrect as the MoU is an agreement betwe en 1st and 7th respond ent wherein the excav ated mineral is purchas ed by 7th respondent. In this conne ction it is to be stated that the APMDC has a pplied for Mining Lea ses in the 3 areas wher ein the permission for grant has to be gi ven by the Governm ent after getting clear ances from Forest, Environmental departm ents and Indian Burea u of Mines, Gove rnment of India. With out getting approval of M ining Leases, no wo rk can be commenced in these areas. It is onl y after grant of leases and executio n of lease deeds, the A PMDC can conduct th e Mining Operations s trictly adhering to the r ules & regul ations and follow the c onditions as stipulated by the Government. A PMDC, a State Gover nment undertaking is t he rightful autho rity to carry out minin g operations in Schedu le areas as per the Jud gment of Supreme Cou rt order in SAMATA. The MoU betwe en 1st and 7th respond ents will commence on ly after the grant of M ining Leases to APM DC and after extraction of the mine ral by the 6th responden t. The supplies of min eral would commence thereafter. Unless indu strialization takes plac e, there is no sc ope to solve the large-s cale unemployment an d unrest in the youth in India is. Industrializa tion is required and ess ential, howe ver subject to protectio n of environment and reducing the impact of industrialization. 25) The allegat ion that this Re spondent is go ing ahead with the activities a ffecting the interests of the tribals is absol utely false. The MOU is only a preliminary s tep and leas e application of the 6th resp ondent is yet to be process ed. The same will be con sidered and gra nted only after obtaining all statutory cleara nces as already stated. The 6th Respond ent would star t mining activ ities only afte r getting all s tatutory perm issions. The p rayer for grant ing Interim Sta y of further pr oceedings is pr emature and untenable. 26) It is respec tfully submitt ed that the wri t petition is de void of merit s and is prem ature. The wr it petition is fi led on mere ap prehensions ev en before any Mining leas e is granted in favour of 6th R espondent. Therefore i t is prayed tha t this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to dism iss the writ petition in the interests of Ju stice and pass such other fur ther order or o rders as ,he Hon'ble Court m ay deem « an d proper in the circumstances of the Case.

An d TH E HON'BLE S RI JUSTICE G .BHAVANI P RASAD WRIT PE TITION NO; 26984 of 2006 Bet ween: "Sa kti" a volunta ry Social Ora ganisation, fo r the upliftm ent of Tribes People, (Re gd.No. 76/85) Ramapachoda varm, East Go davari Distric t, Represented by its Dir ector, Dr. P. Si varamkrishna .....PETIT IONER AN D 1 Governme nt of Andhra Pradesh, Re p by its Pr incipal Secre tary to Gov ernment, Hom e (Courts-A) D epartment, Se cretariat, Hyder abad. 2 Secretary G overnment of Andhra Prades h, Law, Legisl ative Affairs & Justice Hom e (Courts-C) D epartment, Se cretariat, Hyder abad. .....RESPOND ENT(S) Petition un der Article 22 6 of the cons titution of Ind ia praying tha t in the circ umstances stat ed in the Affid avit filed here in the High Co urt will be ple ased to issu e any appropri ate Writ, Order or Direction, more particular ly, onejn the n ature of Wr it of Mandam us declaring the G.O. Ms. No. 41, Law (LA& J), Home (Co urts B) Dep artment, dated 25-3-2004 a nd Go Ms,No. 33 Law (LA& J, Home (C ourts B) Dep artment dated 11-3-2004 as i llegal and void and contrary t o the provision s of the Con stitution of In dia and cons equently decla re that the pr ovisions of C ode of Crim inal Procedur e 1897 are ap plicable to the tribal areas i n the State of Andhra Pra desh as per G O Ms.No. 485, Home (Court s-B) Departm ent dated 29th March, 197 4 Cou nsel for the Pe titioner: SRI A RAMALINGESW ARA RAO Cou nsel for the Re spondents.: HOM E The Advocate Gen eral & GP FOR

A perusal of 'h e record shows that vide G.O.M s.No.33, date d 11-3-2004 re ad with G.O.Ms.No.41 dated 25-3-20 04, the Code of Criminal Proc edure, 1973 has been made applicabl e to the entire State of Andhra Pradesh, inclu ding the tribal areas. A copy of G.O .Ms.No.41 date d 25-3-2004 w as produced be fore the Suprem e Court in Writ P etition (Civil) No.324 of 2003 A. Sadguru Pr asad Vs. State of A.P. and others. Aft er taking cogni zance of the sam e, the Suprem e Court dispos ed of the writ petitio n on 02-04-200 4 in the followi ng terms: ''Learned A ttorney Gener al has filed a notification da ted 25th Marc h, 2004 pub lished in the G azette of the Go vernment of A ndhra Pradesh . The same is t aken on reco rd. By this notific ation, in exerci se of powers co nferred by sub- paragraph (1) o f paragraph 5 of the Fifth Sched ule to the Cons titution of Indi a and subsectio n (2)of Section 1 of th e Code of Crim inal Procedure, 1973 (Central Act 2 of 1974) , the Governor of A ndhra Pradesh has directed tha t the entire Co de of Criminal Procedure, 197 3 as amended s hall apply to al l the tribal area s in the State retrospectively from II'1' Mar ch, 2004, The G .O.Ms.No.33, Law (LA&J.Hom e (Courts.B) Dep artment, dated 11th March. 2 004, which was published in P art I Extraordinary i ssue of the An drha Pradesh G azette dated 11 th March, 2004 has been amended as follows:

Thiswritp etition stands d isposed of in th e aforesaid term s. This order shal l be communic ated to the Reg istrar of Andhr a Pradesh High Court who shall circu late it to all the subordinate co urts in the Stat e for necessary action and. also its wi de publicity thr ough the medi a." Since the r elief sought fo r by the petitio ner would ind irectly imping e on the ord er passed by th e Supreme Co urt, this Court cannot entertai n the writ peti tion and gra nt relief in term s of the prayer m ade by the pe titioner. Wi th the above ob servations, the writ petition is dismissed. Sd/-M . SIVANAR AYANA AS SISTANT REG ISTRAR //TR UE COPY// SEC TION OFFIC ER To 1. The Principal Secretary to G overnment, Go vernment of An dhra Pradesh , Home (Co urt-A) Departm ent, Secretaria t, Hyderabad. 2. The Secretary Government of Andhra Prade sh, Law, Legis lative Affairs.* Justice Hom e (Courts-C) D epartments, Se cretariat, Hyde rabad. 3. Two CC's to T he Advocate G eneral, High Co urt Buildings, Hyd erabad. 4. Two CC's to G overnment Pl eader for Hom e, High Court Buildings, Hy derabad. (OUT). 5. Two C.D.Copi es. 6. One CC to Sir A. Ramalinges wara Rao, Adv ocate, (OPUC) I N THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF ANDHRA P RADESH AT HYDERAB AD W. P.No. 1571 of 2006

RE SPONDEN T No.6 I V.D.Raja gopal S/o. D. Narsimhulu a ged 52 Years, Vice Chairm an and M anaging Directo r, A.P. Miner al Developme nt Corporation Ltd., Hydera bad do here by solemnly a ffirm and since rely state as fol lows: 1. I am the Vice Chairm an and Managi ng Director of the sixth Res pondent Cor poration as suc h well acquaint ed with the fac ts of the case. 2. At the outset it is r espectfully subm itted that th e writ petition is not ma intainable eithe r in facts or in law. All th e averments m ade in the Pet itioners' affi davit are deem ed to have be en denied exc ept otherwise specifically a dmitted here in. 3. In reply to paras 1 to 4 of the affidavit, it is submitted t hat the petitio ners are put to strict proof of the same. T his responden t is not aware of the bonafide s of the peti tioners in filin g the present w rit petition to d eclare the wor ds "to an Unde rtaking own ed or control led by the State or Ce ntral F Governm ent or" in pr oviso to sub- section 5 of S ection 11 of M ines and Min erals (Developm ent and Reg ulation) Act , 1957 (hereina fter referred to as the Act) as unconstitutiona l. The respo ndent is put to strict proof o f the same. a) It is resp ectfully submi tted that the wr it petitioners d id not make ou t a case to declare the pa rt of the pro viso under su b-section 5 of S.ll of the Act as unc onstitutional. T he writ petiti on is devoid o f public inter est. The prese nt writ peti tion to declare only a part of the proviso un der an Act as unconstitutiona l is not ma intainable in la w. 4. In reply to para 5 of the affidavit, it is respectfully su bmitted that Ba uxite is basi cally an alum inous rock with hydrated alum inium oxide a s the main con stituent wit h varying prop ortions of iron oxide, silica a nd generally tit ania. It is an e ssential ore of aluminium m etal which is one of the mos t important non -ferrous metal s used in mo dern industry. I t is also an ess ential ore for re fractory and ch emical industr ies. The cou ntry has abund ant resources o f bauxite whic h can meet bot h domestic and export dem ands. a) The tot al reserves of b auxite in the country are pl aced at 3,076 million tone s. India occup ies 5th positio n in the world Bauxite map a fter Guinea, A ustralia,

329 7 held that tran sfer of Lease i n favour of Non -Tribalsisnot permissible. H owever, in t he said Judgem ent, the Hon'b le Supreme C ourt,categoric ally held that A PMDC bein g the instrum entality of the State can unde rtake mining op erations in th e Tribal Are as of A.P. c) The AP MDC being a State owned u ndertaking ha s applied for grant of Mi ning leases U/s 11(5) of M & M (D 85 R) Act, 1957 for 3 Bauxite dep osits in Ara ku group with an estimated reserve of 54.4 7 million tonn es and for 22 Bauxite dep osits in Chinta palli group wi th an estimat ed reserve of 5 15.97 million tonnes. For est and Environm ental clearan ces are pre req uisites for grant of Mining lea ses. The Mi ning leases are yet to be grante d to APMDC b y the Governm ent. d) M/s. Na tional Alumini um Company (NALCO) is a Government of India und ertaking engag ed in productio n of Allumini um in the count ry looking for areas of exp ansion of Alum ina /Alluminium production. G overnment of A. P. has invite d them to A..P.and they have evinced interests in t he Jerrella group of dep osits in Vis akhapatnam Di strict for estab lishing Allum ina Alluminium industry. Disc ussions bet ween Governm ent of Andhra Pradesh and G overnment of India / NALCO are in pro gress. After fin alization, the m ining of bauxi te and supplie s thereon can b e made by APMDC from Jerrella group o f deposits to th e NALCO's pro posed Industry . e)Meanwhi le, the 7threspo ndent approac hed the GoAP with a propos al to set up refinery and sm elter for man ufacture of Alu mina and Alum inium with a capital outl ay of about Rs . 9,000 crores . Since there a re surplus rese rves after mee ting the dem and of NALC O and having s atisfied with th eir rich experi ence in various sectors and capability to set up such a unit, the GoAP agreed to su pply Bauxite f or their pro posed unit. Ac cordingly, th e GoAP and 7 th respondent signed an M oU on 01/ 07/2005. f) As per t he above-referr ed MoU, the A PMDC shall h ave the Minin g leases and Mine the Bau xite and supply to the 7th resp ondent for man ufacturing Allim inium. was decided that such supplies shall be made from the dep osits in Arak u group (Ga likonda, Rakt hakonda 85 Chittamgondi) and Sappa rla group co nsisting app roximately 2,4 46 hectares an d containing a bout 240 milli on tonnes of r eserves. Thu s, it is factual ly incorrect th at the Governm ent is pursui ng leasing act ivity of Bau xite reserves i n favour of 7th respondent thro ugh 6th respon dent. The Mo U is only for supply of mate rial for the Indu stry of 7th resp ondent and the 7th respondent is in no way connected wi th grant of M ining leases or the Mining act ivition The exc avation

exp lained about t he advantages of the Bauxit e Mining by A PMDC to th e Local Com munity. Abou t 135 tribals an d 42 public rep resentatives we re taken to Dam anjodi in Orissa State, where such m ining is carr ied out by N ALCO, to sh ow the dev elopments ther e. APMDC als o decided to t rain 200 tribal youth. At pres ent 129 trib al youth arc un der training at i ts mines. Balan ce will also be trained shortly. Aft er training, thes e tribals will b e provided em ployment in the proposed proje ct. • i) The alle gation of the p etitioners that the decision of the Supreme C ourt of Indi a is actively b eing circumve nted disregardi ng the interest of the local t ribals is abs olutely false. This responde nt as mention ed above has taken all st eps get ma ximum to ben efit to local tr ibals and has taken all ste ps for their e conomic em powerment. 5. In reply to para 6 of the affidavit, it is respectfully su bmitted that A PMDC pro poses to extrac t Bauxite ore i nitially from th e three areas si tuated in Arak u group and not from Jerre lla area. These 3 deposits are a way from vill ages and are lo cated on top of the hills wh ere there is no habitation. Th e Mining opera tions will not be taken up at a time in t he entire area granted but on ly in a phase d manner as1 per the requ irement and a s per approved Mining Plans. The mined ar eas will be de claimed and the same woul d be made mo re suitable for p lantation and t he plantation w ould be take n up by 7th res pondent in a ph ased manner. a) It may be relevant to mention that w here the Baux ite-mineral is present, ther e will not be an y tree growth nn the flanks of the Hills. The plateau tops of Chi ttamgondi, Gal ikonda and Ra ktakonda are b ald and do not support any ve getation wor th mentioning as Forest. The re is no endan gered species o f flora on the se hills, acc ording to the pr eliminary studi es. b) As mentioned in the previous Para the For est and Envi ronment clea rances from Go vernment of I ndia are pre-req uisites for gran t of the Mining leases. Thu s the Forest a nd Environme nt factors will be taken care by the Governm ent of Indi a's agencies an d the APMDC shall have to follow their gu idelines in this matter. As per the Forest C onservation A ct, 1980, alter nate land equal to the applied area for min ing lease, app roach roads, si te services, dum ping yard et c., (as require d under Mi nes Act, 1952,) in RF towards Compensator y Afforestation , enumeration charges tow ards tree growt h in the applie d and other req uired R.F. area, Afforestation charges in t he land propos ed under Com pensatory Affo restation and th e net present v alue of the RF area are req uired (propose d to be recomm ended) to be a ttended to by A PMDC

roa d at pitheads.1. Collectio n of dust by lo calizing the ge nerated dust at the source by s electing pro perly designed hoods/covers , suppression of flying dust by sprinklin g water thro ugh injectors on dumping ya rds and haula ge roads. The spraying of wa ter and chem icals on haul age roads will be done so as to minimize du st generation f rom the surf ace. 2. All the slopes and surfaces of approach road s will be sp rinkled, syst ematically thro ugh sprinklers, to suppress an d limit the spre ad of flying dus t. 3. Plantati on of vegetati on with broad leaves and v arieties in ro ws with diff erent heights o n the edge of m ines will be d one to control the dust and f or noise atte nuation signifi cantly. 4. Exhaust fumes of the m ining machine ries will be m inimized by sys tematic ma intenance sched ules. Special c are will be take n for regular tu ning of the eng ines to chec k partial com bustion and redu ce Nox, CO an d HC emission s into the atm osphere. 5. To mini mize dust pollu tion at other s ources, measur es such as wet drilling at mine faces, a doption of ho ods at transfe r points, prop er design of chutes, vulc anizing of co nveyor belt j oints, under-be lt cleaning d evices will be done. M onitoring of the SPM, NOx an d SO2 will be carried out dai ly, at sources, to keep the pollution levels in check. B. Ore con veyance system . 1. N o emission apa rt from dust is expected from ropeway conve yor system. 2. T he ore convey ance system w ill be covered to reduce the dust hazard al ong the rout e. The convey ance scheme o f the system w ill be selected as to blend w ith the surr ounding. d) N OISE ENVIR ONMENT Since resid ential colonies and townships will be located away from the mining prem ises and outs ide the forest limit, noise m ay not be a m ajor human c oncern. How ever, abatem ent measures wi ll be taken to m inimize nois e and Vibratio n levels and reduce pressu re on other fa una. Dense be lts of trees wil l be erected t o act as

drai ns to divert the rainwater 2) To reduc e the high con tent of suspend ed material, it is planned to al low the min e water to set tle in settling ponds, with 3 to 5 days dete ntion time wit hin the min ing area, befor e draining out into natural d rainage system or being util ized for vari ous other uses within the mi ne complex. Th e settling pond s will be clear ed once in a while and also before the star t of the monsoo n. 3) The leac hates from ore dumps and w aste dumps wil l Collected by ditches and treated through sedimentation process and us ed for spraying purposes. 4) As reg ards the effec t of mining o n aquifer con ditions with p robable redu ction in the di scharge of the perennial sprin gs or even the elimination of some of the springs, it i s worth citin g the experi ences of a sim ilar Bauxit e mine (Pa nchapatmali he ld by NALCO in Orissa), wh ich is located 70 KM aerial distance from the study site s. It has shown a different ten dency. The co ntinuous monit oring of the rate of flow of water in t he nearby, spr ings at Panchp atmali Bauxit e mines sho wed improved discharge rate and also water free of any ch emical polluti on. This can be attributed to increased se epage of the surface water through the ro cks and enh anced rechargi ng capacity of t he ground wate r reservoir on account of exp osure of mo re porous and permeable su rface, after m ining, as com pared to the original con solidated and r elatively imper vious lateritic c apping that exi sted before rem oval of ove r burden and B auxite in the area. As the geographical structure, topo graphy, min ing deposit fo rmation and m ining activity a re similar to Panchpatmali mining area , similar result s can be expect ed in this regio n too. f) LA ND ENVIRONM ENT The total land requ irement for the project is 244 6 Ha., located on hill tops in r eserved fore st area. Out of this only part o f the area will be used for m ining, but not th e entire area , at a time. To keep the eco logical balance , as far as pos sible undistur bed, the min ing process wi ll be phased a nd planned suc h that as the mining progres ses, the rem ediation and af fore station pro grammes shall be followed sim ultaneously. g) MINE O VERBURDEN AND DRAINAG E. 1) The bau xite deposits in the three plate aus are well e xposed and for the first eigh t years, it is e xpected that t here will be n o solid waste generation. Th e layer belo w bauxite ca pping, ie. Kho ndalite, will n ot be touched upon. The p iling of was tes/overburden is a temporar y/ makeshift a ctivity. The p iling will be done on

3) Allexistin g drains arising fromtheplate aus will be tem porarily diver ted and thre e levels of ch eck dams prov ided on them to arrest the t ravel of any s ilt. The ove rflows from tai ling ponds will be so routed th at they at least pass through o ne level of c heck dams. Th e diversion of the drain will be carried out in such a way that the veg etation in the w atershed outsid e the mining a rea is not affect ed directly. h) RECLAM ATION OF M INED LAND AND AFFOR ESTATION: 1) The plateau tops of Chith amgondi, Galik onda and Rakt akonda do not support any vegetation ex cept for luxuri ant growth of P hoenix Acacu lis i.e., Eetha p lants of sm all size of abou t 3 feet. Excep t for Chitham gondi mine site, at the other t wo mine site s the quantity of top soil is a lmost negligibl e. Irrespective of the quantit y of top soil at all these m ine sites, the to p soil will be s tockpiled separ ately and ahea d of the min ing faces by a combination of bulldozers, wh eel loaders and dumpers. The top soil so r emoved will be again reclaim ed and spread o ver the mined out areas backf illed by ove rburden to help future plantati on. 2) The soil wi ll be dozed an d stockpiled in separate dum ps of 6-7 m heig ht. The lim ited height of the dump w ill facilitate in stock pilin g and reclaim ing by exc avators/front en d loaders envis aged for this p urpose. 3) Simultaneo usly after expl oitation of ore , all hard late rite overburden /wastes will be dumped in the worked out area of the m ine and covered by topsoils he aped for the purpose, in ter races. These t erraces (with s mall benches) will provide ac cess for reve getation as we ll as proper d rainage and e rosion control. The constru ction of dive rsion channels all along the roads and road side plantation will help in a rresting run off and prevent soil erosion. 4) For stabiliz ation of back f illed area and to check erosio n, the back fill will be gra ded and comp acted by com pactors/dozers. T his will redu ce the porosit y of the bac k filled area an d reduce the p ossibility of s lides due to ex cessive water content. The spreading of t opsoil on com pacted back fill will facilitate t he vegetation w hich in turn controls acid water format ion. Thus, the plateau, which is presently de void of any vegetation, wi ll after reclam ation and aff orestation becom e green with native spe cies. 5) S uitable drainag e system will be provided in the back filled area for collec ting the exc ess rainwater. After clarificati on it will be dra ined into the e xisting stream s.

a) Backfilled areas: The Mined out area will b e backfilled s o as to maintai n the original s hape of the terrain as far as practicable. T hen suitable pla ntation will be carried out on flat and slop ing areas. To arrest soil erosi on, planting of shrubs and gr ass will be take n first; this will also stabil ize the slopes. b) Hill slopes: The hill slo pes of the area are comparati vely thickly fo rested than the plateau and the surroundin g plains. The v egetation on th e slopes will be affected due t o laying of c onveyors and c onstruction of roads. In addi tion, the planta tion on the upp er zone of t he slope will be affected du e to mining a ctivities and c onstruction of contour drai ns. To compen sate these loss es of vegetatio n, it is propose d to take up pl antation of t rees on the slop es of hill at sui table places. Both sides of the contou r drain will be provided wit h two rows of shrubs. Adj acent to shrubs , rows of trees will be planne d at about 1.5 m x 1.5 m int erval. If nec essary compen satory afforest ation may be t aken up in the adjacent plate aus and hill slopes outside the dense fold area. c) B auxite transpor tation ropeway corridor: The ore wi ll be transport ed by covered conveyor system and at that time the con veyor corridor width will be kept to a m inimum to cau se least defore station. Aff orestation will be planned to m ake up the los ses due to defo restation, elsew here by pro viding belt veg etation along th e corridor, outs ide the forest a rea. Wherever steep slopes ar e encountere d, necessary s teps will be t aken to pre vent land slides /soil erosion du ring cutting an d filling operat ion. d) Along App roach Road: Compensa tory plantation is proposed a ll along the ap proach road o f 18 m wid th on both side s. These plant ation will be o ne time job wi th post plantat ion care for about 3 years. A part from ma intaining the ec ological balanc e, these plantat ion will help in arresting so il erosion parti cularly in steep hill cut slopes.

Sur vival and prope r growth of th e plantation de pends mainly on post plantat ion care in p lanned and scie ntific manner. 2) The detaile d plantation m ethod like spe cies selection (trees, shrubs, grasses and creepers) and their mode of planting, type of fertilizer to be used, peri od over whi ch post plantat ion care has to be continued, will be assesse d in consultat ion with exp erts from fore st and Agricul tural departm ents. Technical guidance from Indian Inst itute of Forestr y, Dehradun wi ll also be soug ht for the purpo se. k) SOCIO-EC ONOMIC EN VIRONMEN T: The Minin g activities hav e been observe d to be instrum ental in enhan cing the livi ng conditions and activenes s of the loca l population i n backward a reas by pro viding addition al opportunitie s for employm ent and bringin g medical, edu cational and domestic com munication fa cilities within their reach. T he proposed bauxite min ing activities p rovide these fa cilities to the lo cal population. I) EMPLO YMENT AND B USINESS PRO MOTION: The propos ed mining pro ject shall gene rate employm ent for more th an 1000 pers ons directly a nd for many m ore indirectly. The 6th respon dent, already selected 200 tribal youth fr om the surroun ding areas for t raining. m) EDUCATI ONAL FACIL ITIES: The literac y rate in the ar ea is very low. The Mining a gency shall est ablish a sch ool in the area centralized edu cation for 200 nos of tribal y outh with all f acilities like sports, library etc. n) MEDICAL FACILITIES : Health faci lities including m obile clinics will be provide d. o) REHABIL ITATION AN D WELFARE MEASURES : 1) The most i mportant aspec t of the project is to earmark a bout Rs.300 cr ores for reha bilitation of a ffected tribal p opulation by c harging to the project cost, fo r taking up t he following m easures : i) id entification of affected famili es

3) The surrou nding villages will also be benefited from the project welfare me asures as listed below: 1. L aying of roads connecting vill ages. 2. P rovision of dri nking water. 3. P rovision of Pos t office, Bank, Community ha ll etc. 4. P rovision of Co- operative stor es, recreation cl ubs etc. 5. P rovision of tran sportation and communicatio n system. P) EMP IM PLEMENTATIO N AND MO NITORING S YSTEM: 1) A monitori ng strategy wi ll be evolved to ensure that all the enviro nmental me asures suggeste d are implem ented and mon itoring of envir onmental reso urces is carr ied out to prov ide an early wa rning of any un desirable chan ges or trends. 2) To meet t he above objec tive, an envir onmental cell will be set up for the bau xite mines at A raku with the responsibility of implementa tion of EMP a nd post ope ration monitori ng. The function of the cell shall be (i) T o oversee the environmental control measur es to be implem ented as per a pproved acti on plan. (ii) To keep watc h on flow pa ttern streams/n allah/ rivers a nd keep vigil on the effi ciency of water management s ystem. (iii) To look for p ossible erosio n, silting, dum p and bench f ailures, superv ision of sam pling and anal ysis of water, ai r, soil and nois e level. (iv) To follow effe cts of project a ctivities on the standing floral pattern in the v icinity. (v) Prepare and ex ecute afforestat ion schemes. (vi) To observe eff ects of blasting like developm ent of cracks, g eneration of fl y rocks, etc. (vii ) To observe a nd record the phase-wise de velopment in the areas of pl antation

(xii ) To interact an d liaise with St ate/Central Go vernment depar tments.(xii i) To submit pe riodical monito ring reports to MOEF/APPCB . (xiv ) To get cons ent orders from APPCB un der Air (Prev ention and co ntrol of poll ution) Act, 198 1 and Water (P revention and control of pollu tion) Act, 1974 . q) ENVIRO NMENTAL C ELL i) Manpower . 1) The EMC shall be an in ternal managem ent wing. It shall be appro priately equ ipped with qua lified/experien ced manpower who could o perate full-tim e on the im plementation of the EMP and i n liasing with t he enforcement agencies. 2) The clearan ces will be giv en by the resp ective departm ents after fulfil ling the pro visions in the A cts. 6) It may be mentioned t hat in the nei ghboring State of Orissa, wh ere the Bau xite Deposits e xtended in the northern side, M/s. NALCO, a Government of India und ertaking is al ready carryin g out mining operations si nce the Yea r 1986 com mencing with 2.3 million to nnes and at pr esent with a c apacity of 4.8 million tonn es and plannin g further expa nsion to 6.3 m illion tonnes pe r annum by ob serving all the environme ntal, mining, wi ld life, ecology , etc., as per r ules and regula tions of the Acts of State 8 5 Central Gove rnments as m entioned above. It is on the sam e lines, 6th r espondent will undertake expl oitation of Bau xite on its own in AP and ens ure that the Eco-System an d Environment are not disturb ed by the Min ing Activity pr otecting the Flora, Fauna and Wild Lif e if any. It w ould undertak e mining as per the gui delines/stipulati ons as prescrib ed by the respe ctive authoritie s. 7) It is subm itted that mini ng is undertak en by only Stat e undertaking i .e., M/s. A. P. Mineral Dev elopment Cor poration Limit ed duly taking every precaut ion and care not to disturb tribal habitatio ns. The condi tions imposed by the Governm ent of Indi a for obtainin g environment al clearance et c., will be stri ctly followed so as to com ply with certa in conditions i ncluding (a) pa yment of com pensatory affor estation cha rges (b) NPV (Net Presen t Value) (c) P roviding sub stitute com pensatory affo restation land etc.,

9) Keeping the above obj ective in view, an MoU was entered into wi th M/s. Jind al South West Holdings Lim ited for lifting the Ore and c onversion of th e same into Aluminia /Alum inium by sta rting (a) Refine ry (b) Smelter (c) Captive Ge neration Pla nt and (d) othe r allied infrast ructure at an e stimated cost r anging from R s.5000-140 00 crores in th ree phases. It m ay be clearly s een that bringi ng in an investm ent to the tune of Rs.500 0-14000 crore s would create employment a nd bring pros perity to the area. The prop osal of M/s. Jin dal South Wes t Holdings Lim ited has therefo re been agre ed for establis hment of refine ry, smelter and captive power plant outside t he tribal area without havin g any adverse i nfluence on th e tribal populat ion. Action of the state Gov ernment for en tering into an M oU is purely an administrati ve decision to g enerate em ployment and p rosperity in tr ibal area. Her e it may also be mentioned that the M oU speaks of th e conditions u nder which the ore is to be s upplied and if for any reas on, M/s. JSW H Limited d oes not lift t he excavated o re, APMDC / State Gov ernment will h ave the discret ion to select an y other prospec tive buyer. Apa rt from the above, the pric e at which the ore is supplied is also regula ted by a Comm ittee of Sec retaries /expert s along with th e stakeholders t o be constitute d by Governm ent. 10) Thus, it is clearly be seen that mi ning activity is purely undert aken by Stat e Government through APM DC to protect the interest of tribals and M oU with Jind al is only for conversion o f excavated m ineral into va lue added pro duct of Alum ina / Alumin ium outside the agency area w ith right of Go vernment / APM DC to sup ply Ore to any other prospect ive buyer. In pursuance of the MoU, the A PMDC Ltd. , will further e nter into separ ate Agreemen ts not only wit h M/s. JSWH Limited but with other agen cies as well, d epending on th e need and the services requir ed. 11) The al legation that t he birds and species and su rviving mamm als are thre atened by virt ue of the mini ng, which is y et to start, is m isconceived a nd only app rehensive. It w ould not be out of place to me ntion that this respondent wo uld take all n ecessary steps and all statuto ry permissions before starting any mining op eration. The allegation that environmental loss would be there is made w ithout there be ing any min ing activity at all. The appre hensions of th e writ petitione rs are unfound ed and im aginary. 12) In repl y to para 7 of the affidavit it is respectful ly submitted t hat The Trib al Advisory C ouncil at its m eeting held on 2 0-07-1995, af ter analyzing t he views of a ll the Political and official m embers, conclu ded that minin g leases should not be give n to non-tribal s or private age ncies. It was observed that either Governm ent of

14)TheGo AP is insisting that the Mini ng leases shoul d be held by A PMDC f or the effective m anagement of Environment al issues and r ehabilitation o f tribal pop ulation. Accor dingly, a provi sion is made to earmark 0.5 p ercent of the r evenue, whi ch may be Rs. 12 to Rs. 15 cr ores per annum for social infr astructure, train ing and wel fare of the trib als. Further, 25 % out of the statutory paym ent of the roya lty that ma y be around Rs . 3.5 crores pe r annum woul d be utilized f or developme nt of the trib als. Thus, the p roposed minin g of Bauxite w ould certainly accrue benefit s to the loca l tribal populat ion and for the ir development . 15) In rega rd to the perm ission granted t o M/s Orient C ement, it is su bmitted that APMDC ensu red that M/s Or ient Cement t akes UD all en vironmental pr otection me asures as the statutory/reg ulatory requir ements result ing in reduc tion of env ironmental im pact on air, water, land, g lobal surround ings includin g waste ma nagement and i ts utilization, co nserving natur al resources. a) The Ori ent Cement ( Company) star ted its activity towards ISO 14001-env ironment mana gement system in the year 19 98 and it is the first cement c ompany to g et certified for ISO 14001. The Company has also been certified for O HSAS: 180 01. b) The Co mpany has pla nted more tha n 50000 trees to improve ec ological bala nce. The tree s are develope d giving a lust rous view and the area looks like an isla nd of greenery in the heart of a hilly range. The company gave maximum thrust for conserving en vironment, wh ich was recog nized by lead ing organizati ons like FAP CCI, Internati onal Greenland Society which facilitated the company for it s efforts in t his field. c) The com pany has und ertaken comm unity developm ent since its i nception like , providing perm anent emplo yment to about 500 villagers, mostly tribal f rom the nea rby villages su ch as Devapur , Maddimada, K asipet, Chint agudem, Mala kapally, Dham araopet, Kom atichenu etc. Preference is al so being given to locals in pr oviding em ployment. In c ase employee s leave the s ervice due to health problem s, the com pany is provid ing employme nt to their depen dants. d) The com pany has laid p ucca roads in and around Dev apur village a nd spent larg e amounts on this account. T he company al so provided bu s shelters at im portant roa d junctions in D evapur and ab out 10 surround ing 10 villages .

f) The com pany organiz ed total litera cy campaign and adopted D evapur Vill age and helped in total literac y work. The co mpany has uti lized the servic es of its offi cers for spread ing literacy in the area. Con sidering the co ntribution, on e of its offi cers was taken as member of the Executiv e body in the District Total Literacy Com mittee constit uted by Governm ent of A. P. g) The com pany was inst rumental to er adicate child la bour in this ar ea. The com pany has prov ided literacy re ading room fa cility for the be nefit of all loc al public and encourages art and cultural t alent among th e residents. Th e company enc ourages con ducting tournam ents at mand al level and c ontributing gen erously in con ducting spo rts events in Ka sipet and Deva pur Villages. h) The com pany takes ca re of communi ty service and religious senti ment of the people. It con tributed const ruction and re novation of th e temples in about 5 vill ages and donat es liberally for the local festiva ls. i) The com pany employ ed 3 qualified medical doct ors supported by para me dical staff in it s occupational health centres. Apart from at tending to the clinical pro blem of the em ployees, it is also geared up to treat the ca ses of immine nt heart atta cks and cereb ro vascular ac cidents in Dev apur and surr ounding ham lets like Ram pur, Chintagu da etc are so lely depending on the Com pany for thei r health pro blems. Health education c onducted by t he Company is reflected in the im provement of th e age of marria ge from 12 to 1 8 over a period of 15 years. M aternal and child health a re organized sy stematically. T here is no rep orted case of n eonatal teta nus and no cas e of polio sinc e 1986. There i s health liaison between State Health M edical Service a nd Orient He alth Services. G overnment o f A.P recogn izes the disp ensary. as a n extension of PHC at Kas ipet. The com pany provid es fully equ ipped Ambula nce Services for bringing p atients from the villages to the disp ensary everyd ay and also f or transporting serious patie nts from there to the M ancherial. The company has g enerously cont ributed for co nstruction of o peration thea tres and out pa tient wards at PHC, Kasipet and constructio n of Govt. Ay urvedic Dis pensary at Dev apur. The com pany has orga nized camps, p roject eye care , family wel fare camps, he alth camps in a nd around Deva pur and surrou nding villages. j) The com pany was inst rumental in br inging a branc h of Andhra Bank at Dev apur which d isburses agric ultural loans to the Reside nts of Devap ur and M addivada and DW AKRA group s.

n)Thecom pany provided 2 sets of Dish Antenna in De vapur and M addivada vill ages. o) Televisi on cables wer e provided by the Compan y at free of c ost and con tributed for the awareness and information av ailable for the growth. p) The com pany contribut ed to the State and Central G overnment by way of paym ent of royalt y, excise duty, sales tax, inco me tax and ot her statutory ta xes and duti es. The compa ny also pays ho use tax, NALA tax, and prof essional tax to the tune of a bout Rs 20 lak hs per annum to the panchay at which is a t ribal village an d other loca l bodies. q) The co mpany encour ages local regi stered DWAK RA groups an d their pro ducts are sold in the compan y cooperative stores. The com pany encoura ges the vill agers to sell t heir agricultur al produce in the colony. I n order to en courage agri cultural activit y and for prom oting irrigation facility the com pany has con tributed 650 tonnes of cem ent for bun ding Peddapur lake which has given im petus to agri cultural activit ies in surround ing villages. F or increasing the water tabl e in and arou nd surroundin g villages, the company mad e a big pond f or storing of 8 6,000 of cub . Mtrs of rain water. The com pany has dug about 100 wat er-harvesting p oints in the factory and c olony for retai ning the water table. During scarcity of w ater the com pany extended facility of wat er supply to the villages to m eet their requirem ents. r) The Com pany has been sharing its m ight for develop ing the comm unity all arou nd. The unit has been com plimented wit h a number o f awards by various org anizations for its contributio n in various f ields like qual ity product wi th best env ironment prote ction effort, W orkers welfare and harmonio us industrial r elations, wor kers welfare (including fam ily plannin g) effort, en vironment pro tection, env ironment and best ecologi cal impleme ntation, energy conservation , rural dev elopment by in dustry, etc. s) The com pany is integr ating interest o f the stake hol ders especially tribals into company's ac tions and is ta king all necess ary steps keepi ng in view the human righ ts, business et hics, environm ent policies of the Governm ent, needs of t he local com munity and wo rk place issues . 16) The Tri bal Advisory C ouncil, after a nalyzing variou s aspects and v iews of

Stat e of A. P., ca nnot be found fault with by the Petitioner s by making w ild and irr e sponsible alleg ations. 17) It reply to Para 8 of t he affidavit th e contention th at consent of N ational Com mission for Schedule Trib es has to be obtained unde r Article 338 of the Con stitution of Ind ia is incorrect. There is no su ch provision un der Article 33 8 of the Con stitution and t he language of Article 338 can not be stretche d to require th e Union or a ny State to ob tain sanction o f the National Commission fo r Schedule Tr ibes for esta blishment of a ny industry in the schedule areas. Howev er it is submi tted that Nat ional Commiss ion will be con sulted before u ndertaking the project. 18) It is re spectfully subm itted that the establishment of industry by the 7th resp ondent shall b e out side th e scheduled ar ea. APMDC w ould exploit Bauxite cap pings of the hil ls and supply m aterial to the I ndustry. 19) A meet ing was conven ed with tribal members by th e Hon'ble Mini sters for Mi nes & Geology, Commercial T axes, Forests and Tribal W elfare on 19/12/ 2005 to exp lain the compl ete details of th e proposed Bau xite Mining by the 6th respond ent, the arra ngement for su pply of miner al to the 7th res pondent and al so the commitm ent of the Government to wards developm ent of tribals and the propos als in that direc tion. In the said meeting c onvened by the Hon'ble Mini sters, all the ap prehensions pe rtaining to t his project were clarified. 20) The ap prehensions of the Petitioners mentioned in t his para of the a ffidavit abo ut the content s of the proj ect report, ar e premature an d unfounded. This Res pondent undert akes to take al l necessary pe rmissions befo re starting any mining acti vity in the triba l area. 21) In rep ly to Para 9 of the affidavit it is respectfu lly submitted that the pro posed Mining Project of Bau xite is very h uge warranting huge investm ent and tech nical know ho w and deploym ent of huge m achinery and c omplying with various stat utes etc., It wo uld not be po ssible to take up project of s uch volume e ither by TRI COR or any ot her tribal socie ty. Considering all these aspe cts, GoAP deci ded that min ing of Bauxite should be entru sted to APM DC. 22) It is in correct to say that no effort was made in respect of Bau xite for shar ing of the ben efits in respec t of proposed project. As alr eady mentione d in the pre vious Para a p rovision is m ade earmarkin g a minimum of 0.5 percent of the

Ela katta and Choul apally villages in 1974after running it for 9 years and has not paid com pensation and due to excavati on of quartz m ines more than 300 persons i ncluding 40 persons of lam bada tribes d ied due to si licosis and sil ico-tuberculosi s, it is subm itted that the 6th Respondent mechanized it s operations an d conducted sy stematic and scientific min ing taking all p recautionary m easures necess ary under Mi ning and Mi nes Safety Reg ulations, such as providing helmets, respir ators and othe r safety equ ipments. The C orporation clo sed down its o perations in El akatta in the ye ar 1974 and in Choulapall y in the year 1 974-1975 and paid retrenchm ent compensat ion and the entire attenda nt benefits to the workers em ployed by t he Corporatio n. The Cor poration had tr ansferred the m ining lease ab solutely in resp ect of Elakatta Mines and the processin g unit to the Electro Therm ics Private Lim ited in 197 5. The Cho ulapally mine s were closed and no minin g operations w ere conducted by the Cor poration from 1975 onwards . It is also s ubmitted that no work pers on who wor ked with the C orporation was affected by si licosis. The sa id allegations a re false and are denied. b) It is als o submitted th at one organi zation under t he name and style of Soc iety for Aware ness through L earning and Tr aining ( SALT ) filed W. P. N o.4090 of 1 991 requestin g the Hon'ble C ourt to direct the Director o f Medical Ser vices to take up the x-ray p hoto of all the workers who w ere in the serv ice of the orga nization. Sub sequently, the Director of M edical Services conducted cam ps and filed counter whe rein it was m entioned, that " in the opinion o f the medical profession, it is rather diff icult to come to a conclusio n on the basis of history an d clinical exam ination wit hout proper di agnosis. On th e basis of clin ical examinati on, the cases were of pha rasgitis and fe ver in some c ases. At presen t there are no mining opera tions in exis tence since 19 73-1974. After confirmation o f cases, if any, are to be trea ted, the trea tment will be p rovided by the specialists of D istrict T. B. Ce ntre, Mahaboo bnagar whe re tests will b e conducted a nd treatment w ill be given fr eely". The W . P. was dism issed by Hon 'ble High Court on 03-04-2001 . c) Further it is submitted, that 99 perso ns have filed a pplications be fore the Ass istant Commi ssioner, Workm en Compensa tion, Mahaboo bnagar Distric t in the yea rs 1992 & 19 94 for payme nt of compens ation in the r ange of Rs 20 ,000 to 24, 000/- per perso n. The Corpo ration filed co unters in all th e above appli cations. The se applications were dismisse d for default on 21-07-1996. d) Another W. P. No.238 14 of 1995 was taken up by t he Hon'ble Hig h Court on t he basis of new s item in the E conomic Time s dt 18-10-199 5 with the capt ion "A.

Cor poration under takes mining o perations in q uartz mines, it shall take app ropriate step s for good heal th of workmen . f) Another W. P. No. 191 81 of 1997 wa s taken up on the basis of te legram from Smt. Vijaya, Secretary, Lab our Liberation Front praying t he Hon'ble Hig h Court to d irect the Gover nment to com pensate suitably to all the labo urers who are s uffering from dangerous di sease due to th eir work in th e Corporation f or breaking lim estone wit hout being prov ided any safet y measures. T he Corporation fled its count er. The Hon 'ble High Cou rt dismissed th e W. P. on 17- 11-1997 with t he observation that on per usal of the enti re material on record " we ar e of the view th at the relief so ught in the W . P. cannot b e granted ". g) Thus the allegation tha t 300 persons i ncluding 40% of lambada tri bes died due to silicosis an d silico tuberc ulosis for hav ing worked wi th the 6th Res pondent Cor poration in th eir quartz mi ne in Mahaboo bnagar Distric t is incorrect. After clos ure and tran sfer of the mines, the Co rporation ha s paid retren chment com pensation to t he workers. No worker who worked with t he Corporation at that tim e complained o f any disease. The Corporatio n has taken all the precaution s under min ing and mines safety regulatio ns. h) The ave rment of the p etitioner that t he proposals f or developmen t of the trib als on account of the propo sed Mining o f Bauxite wou ld be limited to only stat ements and wo uld not result in any benef it is only im aginary, prema ture and bas eless. It is subm itted that after establishing th e cement unit by M/s. Orient Cement in Devapur, a Tr ibal Village, the developm ent that took p lace in that and the surr ounding 10 Vi llages as men tioned in prepa res is a living example of a ll round dev elopment. Sim ilar is the case with NALCO i n Orissa. The Government as well as this respondent is committed in letter and spiri t for creation of social infras tructure and development of the tribals. The Governm ent has entrust ed the Mining job of Bau xite to APMD C only to ensur e effective ma nagement of En vironmental is sues and reha bilitation of tr ibal population . It is incorrect on the part of the petitioner t o create obst acles to the p roject based o n apprehension s, which wou ld certainly af fect the dev elopment of the tribals. 24) The ap prehensions of the Petitione rs are unfound ed and blown out of pro portion. The al legation that th is Respondent should not be allowed to be a warded wit h the proposed action witho ut ensuring n ecessary safeg uards, is mad e in an irre sponsible man ner. The Respo ndent, a 'State ' under Art. 12 of the Constit ution of

the APMDC has to conduct t he Mining Op erations by fo llowing the r ules & r egu lations and fol low the comm itments as stipu lated by the Go vernment. APM DC, a Stat e Government undertaking is a rightful auth ority to carryou t mining opera tions in Sch edule areas as per the Judgm ent of Suprem e Court dated 11/07/1997. T he MoU bet ween 1st and 7t h respondents w ill commence only after the grant of Minin g Leases to A PMDC and a fter execution and extraction of the miner al only, the su pply of ma terial will be m ade to the 7th re spondent. Unle ss industrializa tion takes plac e, there is n o scope to solv e the large-scal e unemploym ent and unrest in the youth in I ndia and the same should be encouraged. Several Acts brought out b y the Governm ent to prot ect the environm ent and the projects will be adhered to an d Mining activ ity will be u ndertaken only after all 26) The al legation that t his Responden t is going ahe ad with the a ctivities affe cting the intere sts of the tribal s is absolutely false. The Min ing Lease in fa vour of this Respondent i s not yet grant ed. This Resp ondent would start mining a ctivities onl y after getting a ll statutory perm issions. The prayer sought for granting of Interim Sta y of further pro ceedings is prem ature and unte nable. 27) It is res pectfully subm itted that the w rit petition is d evoid of merit s and is prem ature. The w rit petition is f iled on mere ap prehensions e ven before any Mining leas e is granted in favour of this R espondent. Therefore i t is prayed tha t this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to dism iss the writ petition in the interests of Ju stice and pass such other fur ther order or o rders as the Hon'ble Court m ay deem fit a nd proper in the circumstances of the Case. Sol emnly affirmed and signed in my presence at Hy derabad thi s the day of M arch,2006. Adv ocate