Sterlite Accused of Illegal Deforestation, Violating SC Orders

Legal News India: Sterlite Industries (a part of the mining group, Vedanta) has been accused of violating the orders from the Supreme Court of India. A leader from the Congress party alleged senior officers from the company of cutting down forest trees during the construction of a power plant in Chattisgarh. Two reports from the government (dated October 2010) state that the area in which the trees were cut down belongs to the State government. The satellite-mapping technology confirmed that the deforestation took place on the officially classified forest land.

The company has claimed that the trees that were cut down stood on the land privately owned by it. It denied any unlawful clearance of forest land. Sterlite owns 1,751 acres of forest land in Chattisgarh and possesses 51% shares of the Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO).

An inquiry will be carried out to find out whether the apex court’s orders have been violated. The Vedanta mining group has been in news after it was denied the permission to carry out bauxite mining in Orissa’s Niyamgiri hills by the Indian government.