Kappatagudda order unsigned, High Court takes up case again

BENGALURU: The issue of granting the tag of a conservation reserve (CR) to the Kappatagudda hills, where mining companies are vying to mine gold in the pristine forests with its rare flora and fauna, has surfaced again. The Karnataka High Court has re-opened the case after its dismissal last year as the order copy was not signed by the then Chief Justice before he retired in October.

The Siddaramaiah government had notified Kappatagudda forest area in Gadag district as a conservation reserve on April 11, 2017 after month-long protests and demands from ministers, MLAs, religious leaders and concerted public demand.In the aftermath of government’s decision to notify Kappatagudda as a CR, a few local residents filed a writ petition on February 22, 2017 in the High Court seeking quashing of the notification as they claimed it hindered their agricultural and employment activities and the movement of people. Further, RMML (a subsidiary of Baldota Group of companies) too filed a writ petition in July 2017 as they had applied for gold mining licence while their earlier prospecting licence which fell in Kappatagudda area had expired.

However, the High Court had dismissed their petitions and directed the petitioners to go before the CR Board (that would be constituted later) for any approvals or mining permissions. But unfortunately, the order copy was left unsigned by the then chief justice and fellow judge Dinesh Kumar. Meanwhile, RMML filed a memo before the court saying that the draft order copy of the High Court was unsigned and so it was not an order. The dismissed petition once again came up for hearing on February 14 before the acting chief justice.

Finally, on March 3, the court said since the order was not signed by the then CJ, it is not an order. “Unsigned orders cannot be considered as court orders. We have to recall the unsigned orders and the case has to be heard once again,” it said.Meanwhile, forest officials and wildlife conservationists have expressed dismay on the reconsideration of the case after its dismissal last year.

Wildlife conservationist from Ballari, Santosh Martin adds, “It is the state government’s decision to notify it as CR as per the demands of the local population and its representatives after a public hearing. In fact, the mining company has no business to question the decision of the government. There is no case at all. The department can get the case dismissed without any problems if it is really serious about it.”

Appealing to the forest department to represent the case for CR properly, activists add, “Agitation will start once again if the department fails to represent the case with full facts. The recommendation of the State Wildlife Board’s sub-committee was to notify it as Wildlife Sanctuary, but politicking led to it being notified as CR.”