New Delhi: The Atomic Energy Regulatory Body (AERB) on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) had undergone stringent safety scrutiny by experts before being gi

Makes clear that 17 safety measures are additional, not a condition precedent

Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati asserted in the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant was absolutely safe and all apprehensions on safety of the plant were completely baseless. Making this submission before a Bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra, Mr. Vahanvati also made it clear that it was not a condition precedent that all the 17 safety measures to be implemented before the plant was put into operation.

PANJIM: The Goa unit of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) has decided to file intervention application in the Supreme Court, seeking directives for immediate resumption of all legal mining operations in Goa. The application would be filed on November 2, when the ongoing case would be heard next.

Addressing a press conference, AITUC General Secretary Christopher Fonseca said that Goa Mining Labour Welfare Union under AITUC has been constituted, which would be filing the intervention petition in Supreme Court to put across all the facts affecting livelihood of mining dependent people, with the suspension of mining operations.

Stone-crushing units continue to operate in defiance of court order

Several government orders, verdicts of the courts, including directions from the Supreme Court, seem to have had no impact on the quarries and stone-crushing units around the Bannerghatta National Park (BNP). They have not only indulged in the illegal blasting of rock and quarrying, but have also been threatening and abusing people who raise a voice against them.

Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) general secretary Vaiko on Tuesday strongly pleaded in the Supreme Court for a permanent closure of the copper smelting plant of Sterlite Industries at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu.

He made this submission before a Bench of Justices A.K. Patnaik and H.L. Gokhale, hearing an appeal filed by Sterlite Industries against a Madras High Court judgment directing closure of the plant. The Court in October 2010 had stayed the judgment and is now in the process of final hearing of the case.

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre and the Orissa government on a plea alleging that majority stake in a coal block, allocated to the state mining corporation, was illegally given to a private company.

The public interest litigation (PIL) has alleged that Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) was divested of the coal block, in Talcher coalfield of Angul district, and the same was handed over to Delhi-based private mining firm Sainik Mining and Allied Services Ltd.

PANJIM: The mining companies have challenged Goa State Pollution Control Board’s (GSPCB) authority to question them on the excess ore production and Environment Clearance (EC) certificates issue, claiming that it is for the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) to take a stand on these aspects.

GSPCB is currently hearing defence of 48 mining companies, regarding the authenticity of documentation for ECs, issued by MoEF. The hearings, which begun last week, were held following High Court order in a petition filed by Goa Foundation.

PANJIM: In the wake of Supreme Court order suspending mining operations in the State, including halt on transportation of iron ore, Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has decided to hold a s

The Supreme Court on Monday admitted a public interest litigation (PIL) on contentious joint venture pact between the state-owned resource company Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and Delhi-based Sainik Mining & Allied Services Ltd (SMASL) for raising of coal from a block allotted to the former.

In the PIL the petitioner has demanded cancellation of the coal block and CBI probe into the joint venture agreement, where OMC has conceded controlling 74 per cent stake to SMASL. The formation of the JV, named Kalinga Coal Mining (Private) Ltd, is in blatant violation of Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act-1973, the petitioner argued.

New Delhi: Sajjan Jindalled JSW Steel said on Thursday that it might challenge the government in court over de-allocation of the Gourangdih ABC coal mine and insisted that the company has “not done