NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has reserved its order over the contentious issue of resumption of mining operations by French cement giant, Lafarge, in Meghalaya to supply the limestone to its $255-million cement plant in Bangladesh.
A special bench comprising Chief Justice SH Kapadia , Justice Aftab Alam and Justice KS Radhakrishnan on Tuesday concluded the hearing in the case.
It heard the arguments on behalf of the Centre, the company Lafarge and local residents, Shella Action Committee.
The court while reserving its verdict asked the concerned parties, the Centre and the company to file their written submissions by Friday.
Earlier, the apex court had on February 5, 2010, stopped Lafarge from carrying out limestone mining in Meghalaya saying it can be allowed in the environmentally sensitive zone.
During the course of the hearing in the case, the court asked some tough questions from Lafarge counsel and former attorney general Soli J Sorabjee. He said that the company was not aware of fact that project site falls within the forest area.
According to Sorabjee, the Ministry of Forest and Enviornment (MoEF) was not aware of existence of dense forest area.
The bench, however, said, "when you (company) have visited the site, you could have seen the forests. Do not say that it was notified or uniformed. Initially when your engineers have gone there, they might have seen the forest".
It said, the project was in the core of the "tropical deciduous forest" of that area.
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