VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday directed the Centre, State government and other authorities to file counters on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking allocation of suitable iron ore blocks to the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
The PIL was filed by J. Ayodhya Ramu, general secretary of the Steel Plant Employees’ Union, seeking directions to the governments to take a decision within a stipulated timeframe on allocation of captive iron ore mines to the plant.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Lisa Gill and Justice Challa Gunaranjan issued notices to the Centre, State government, Visakhapatnam Steel Plant management and the managing directors of the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC). The respondents were directed to file detailed counters.
Senior counsel A. Satyaprasad, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the steel plant had been incurring huge expenditure on purchasing iron ore due to the absence of captive mines.
Penalty imposed on govt for failing to file counter
The AP High Court on Wednesday imposed Rs 7,000 costs on the State government for failing to file its counter for nearly a year in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) concerning alleged irregularities in land allotted to Krishnapatnam Infratech Private Limited (KIPL) for establishing a multi-product Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Nellore district.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Lisa Gill and Justice Challa Gunaranjan imposed the costs.