Supreme Court Forms Committee Led By Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia To Determine Encroachment Extent In Obulapuram Mining Case

The Supreme Court recently appointed Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, a former judge of the Supreme Court, as the Chairman of the Committee to fix the boundaries of the leased areas and the reserved forest areas to examine the extent of illegal encroachment and mining and other unauthorised activities in the Obulapuram mining case in the State of Andhra Pradesh. In this case, former Tourism and Infrastructure Minister of Karnataka, Gali Janardhan Reddy, is one of the accused.

A Bench led by Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai, along with Justices K. Vinod Chandran and N.V. Anjaria, passed the order after taking note of a September 18 communication from the Andhra Pradesh Commissioner and Director of Mines & Geology, which stated that the State Government had decided to request the Court to set up a committee on the issue.

Although this suggestion was vehemently opposed by the Respondent, stating that what was agreed upon was only the demarcation of the leasehold areas, the Court nevertheless accepted the suggestion of the State. 

The composition of the Committee is as follows: 

i. Mr. Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India, as Chairperson of the Committee.

ii. A member of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC), as nominated by the Chairperson of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC).

iii. Secretary, Department of Industries and Commerce (Mines), Government of Andhra Pradesh or his nominee not below the rank of Deputy Secretary.

iv. Secretary from the Department of Environment, Forest, Science and Technology, Government of Andhra Pradesh as his nominee not below the rank of Deputy Secretary.

v. A nominee of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, as nominated by the Secretary of that Department.

vi. Secretary Department of Revenue, Government of Andhra Pradesh or his nominee not below the rank of Deputy Secretary. Also, to work as a convenor-cum-secretary of the Committee for coordinating the meetings of the Committee.

The report has to be submitted within 3 months.

Case Details: GOVT.OF A.P. & ORS. v. M/S OBULAPURAM MINIG.CO.P.LTD. & ORS.

Click Here To Read Order

Appearances: Mr. Sidharth Luthra, Sr. Adv. Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR Mr. Gautam Bhatia, Adv. Mr. Karl P Rustomkhan, Adv. Ms. Vanshika Singh, Adv.

Mr. Gaurav Agrawal, Sr. Adv. Mr. Vishnu Mohan, Adv. Mr. Nakul Patwardhan, Adv. Mr. Ravi Raghunath, AOR

Mr. Mukul Rohatgi, Sr. Adv. Mr. Ranjit Kumar, Sr. Adv. Mr. P.b. Suresh, Sr. Adv. Mr. Mayank Jain, Adv. Mr. Madhur Jain, Adv. Ms. Aakriti Dhawan, Adv. Mr. Arpit Goel, Adv. Mr. Deepak Jain, Adv. Mr. Parmatma Singh, AOR

Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR M/S. Lawyer S Knit & Co, AOR Mr. Merusagar Samantaray, AOR

Dr. Sumant Bharadwaj, Adv. Mr. Vedant Bharadwaj, Adv. Ms. Mridula Ray Bharadwaj, AOR Mrs. Amrita Behra, Adv. Mrs. Tanuja Jha, Adv. Mrs. Pooja Gupta, Adv.

Mr. Shubhranshu Padhi, AOR [for petitioners]

 Mr. Mukul Rohatgi, Sr. Adv. Mr. Ranjit Kumar, Sr. Adv. Mr. P.b. Suresh, Sr. Adv. Mr. Mayank Jain, Adv. Mr. Madhur Jain, Adv. Ms. Aakriti Dhawan, Adv. Mr. Arpit Goel, Adv. Mr. Deepak Jain, Adv. Mr. Parmatma Singh, AOR

Mr. Basava Prabhu Patil, Sr. Adv. Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR Mr. Arijeet Shukla, Adv. Mr. Samarth Kashyap, Adv.

Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv. Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Adv. Ms. Rajkumari Divyasana, Adv.

Mr. Gaurav Agrawal, Sr. Adv. Mr. Vishnu Mohan, Adv. Mr. Nakul Patwardhan, Adv. Mr. Namanjeet Singh Bhatia, Adv. Mr. Ravi Raghunath, AOR

Mr. Gaurav Agrawal,Sr.Adv. Mr. Ravi Raghunath,Adv. Mr. Namanjeet S. Bhatia,Adv.

Mr. Sunil Kumar Jain, AOR

Ms. Bharti Tyagi, AOR

Mr. G.v.r Choudary, Adv. Mr. Sanjay Jha, Adv. Ms. Kirti Goyel, Adv. Mr. Sewa Singh Sahu, Adv. Mr. K. Shivraj Choudhuri, AOR

M/S. Lawyer S Knit & Co, AOR Mr. Rakesh K. Sharma, AOR

Ms. Prerna Singh, Adv. Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR Mr. Dhruv Yadav, Adv.

 Mr. K. M. Nataraj, A.S.G. Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR Ms. Sonia Mathur, Adv. Mr. Sharath Nambiar, Adv. Ms. V Mohana, Adv. Ms. Saudamini Sharma, Adv. Mr. Pratyush Shrivastava, Adv. Ms. Ranjana Narayan, Adv. Mr. Shailesh Madiyal, Adv. Mr. Rohan Gupta, Adv.

Mr. K M Natraj, A.S.G. Mrs. Sonia Mathur, Sr.Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AO Mrs. V Mohana, Adv. Mr. Shailesh Madial, Adv. Mr. Sharath Nambiar, Adv. Mr. Rajesh Ranjan, Adv. Mr. B.k. Satija, Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, Adv.

Mr. K. M. Nataraj, A.S.G. Ms. Sonia Mathur, Sr. Adv. V. Mohna, Sr. Adv., Adv. Mr. Shailesh Madiyal, Adv. Mr. Sharath Nambier, Adv. Saudamini Sharma, Adv. Mr. Pratyush Shrivastava, Adv. Dr. N. Visakamurthy, AOR Mr. Nishant Patil, A.A.G. Mr. D. L. Chidananda, AOR Mr. T. V. S. Raghavendra Sreyas, AOR Mr. Siddharth Vasudev, Adv. Ms. Gayatri Gulati, Adv.

Mr. Brahma Prakash Soni, Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Mr. Prashant Bhushan, AOR Mr. Ankur S. Kulkarni, Adv. Mr. Nirnimesh Dube, Adv. Ms. Priya S. Bhalerao, Adv. Mr. Debdeep Banerjee, Adv. M/S. Lex Regis Law Offices, AOR