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5. Persistent complaints were made on large-scale illegal mining and transportation of iron ore, and illegal encroachment in forest areas for the purpose of illegal mining. Samaj Parivartna Samudaya filed a Petition 7 under article 32 before this Court regarding illegal mining in the forest areas in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The Central Empowered Committee8, pursuant to an order of this Court dated 19 November 2010 submitted a report on 7 January, 2011 regarding six mining leases in the Bellary Reserve Forests, Ananthapur, Andhra Pradesh. This Court by an order dated 25 February 2011 directed the CEC to submit its report in “A-4” “A-5” Writ Petition (Civil) No. 562/2009 “CEC”  PART A respect of the allegations of illegal mining in Karnataka. Pursuant to the order, the CEC filed five reports on illegal mining. Following the submission of the report of the CEC dated 3 February 2012 raising concerns over illegal mining, transportation, sale and export of iron ore in the districts of Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur, directions were issued by his Court on 16 September 2013 for an investigation by the CBI. The purport of the directions of this Court was as follows:

(iv) The Government of Karnataka was directed to take action under relevant law as recommended by the CEC in its report dated 5 September 2012 with regard to those exporters who had exported less than 50,000 MTs and report compliance.

 PART A

6. On 22 November 2013, the Government of Karnataka entrusted the above cases in terms of the orders of this Court for further investigation and criminal proceedings to the Lokayukta Police. On 21 January 2014, the state government issued a notification authorizing several officers, including the Inspector of Police, as ‗authorized persons‘ for the purpose of sub-sections (3) and (4) of Section 21 and Section 22 of the MMDR Act and Rules 43(3) and 46 of the Karnataka Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 1994. On 24 January 2014, the Government of Karnataka constituted a Special Investigation Team9 in the Karnataka Lokayukta for investigation of illegal mining among other purposes. The SIT included the Inspector of Police. On 29 May 2014, the Home Department of the Government of the Karnataka declared, in pursuance of Section 2(s) of the Criminal Procedure Code,10 that the office of the Inspector General of Police, SIT, Karnataka Lokayukta shall be a police station for the purpose of the said clause and, power and jurisdiction in respect of the offences of illegal mining of minerals/minor minerals as defined in Section 3 of the MMDR Act was conferred. The text of the notification is extracted below:

1. Indian Penal Code, 1860

2. Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988

3. The Karnataka Forest Act, 1962

4. Any other offence under any other relevant Act committed either in furtherance of or in violation of the above mentioned Acts or to undertake illegal mining; and

5. Any other cases of illegal mining entrusted by State Government.

The Notification shall remain in force for period of two years, co-terminus with the term of the Special Investigation Team (SIT).‖

(iii) Objective of the MMDR Act: The appellants are accused of the commission of offences under the MMDR Act involving the export and transportation of minerals without permit. Offences under the MMDR Act are environmental crimes. These crimes impact upon society at large. These offences cause a detriment to and affect the well-being of the entire community. Environmental crime is not confined within geographical or state limits. The impact of  PART C environmental crime transcends borders and time. Environmental crime may or may not have an immediately identifiable human victim but there can be no mistaking its consequence for the entire bio-system of which human beings are an intrinsic, but not the only, element. Environmental crime is in essence a planetary crime – it affects every component of the natural systems with which the planet has been endowed. They constitute our heritage; a heritage which is held in trust by the present for the future. Illegal mining denudes the eco-system of valuable resources. The destruction of the natural environment has serious consequences for the present and the future. The MMDR Act must hence be construed in this perspective. At one level, illegal mining deprives the state of its revenues. But the law is not merely a revenue yielding or regulating measure. The essence of the law is to protect human kind and every species whose existence depends on natural resources from the destruction which is caused by rapacious and unregulated mining. The offences which have been taken into account by Parliament while enacting sub-sections (1) and (1A) of Section 4 intrinsically affect the environment which, in turn, affects the existence of communities who depend on the environment and of every species to whom it provides nurture and sustenance. It is because of the wide-ranging impact of such offences on the life of the community and on the well-being of not only the present, but of the succeeding generations, that principles such as the precautionary principle, the public trust doctrine and the concept of  PART C sustainable development have gained a sure jurisprudential foundation. In environmental crime, there may be no single, immediate victim. The act which predicates the offence is a crime against humanity. These crimes might not be perceived in the present to have immediate, foreseeable or quantifiable repercussions but there is no mistaking that they impact the life of future generations;