BENGALURU | Dec 04, 2015: The Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC), in its final report on February 3, 2012, categorised 166 mining leases in Karnataka into three — A, B and C — based on the extent of illegalities committed by the lessees.

It had classified 45 mining leases under category ‘A’, 72 under ‘B’ and 49 under category ‘C’. Subsequently, the court ordered shifting two more mines from category ‘B’ to category ‘C’, resulted in tally reaching 51.

Following the CEC’s report, the Supreme Court, on April 18, 2013, ordered cancellation of all the 51 leases with maximum illegalities in the districts of Ballari, Tumakuru and Chitradurga.

(Source: http://www.thehindu.com/)