A Union minister has dashed off a letter to the Andhra Pradesh governor to cancel all bauxite licences issued by the state government and MoUs signed with mining companies
JAL KHAMBATA New Delhi
In an unprecedented mo
ve, a Union minister has dashed off a letter to the Andhra Pradesh governor to cancel all bauxite licences issued by the state government and Memoranda of Understanding ( MoU) signed with the mining companies between 2005 and 2010 in Visakhapatnam district of the state.
Though the 14- page missive wonalt39t be picked up by the Opposition parties as another attack on the federal character of the Constitution since both the minister and the state government belong to the Congress, it has put Governor E S L Narasimhan in a piqued situation, telling him that he need not take advice of the states council of ministers in taking the ” extraordinary” step.
Union Tribal Affairs and Panchayati Raj Minister V Kishore Chandra Deo ( 65) has cited the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution that empowers the governor to act on his own without the state governments advice or the Presidents assent. All the same, Narasimhan, a former Intelligence Bureau chief, has played safe, putting the ball in Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddys court, seeking his Cabinets view.
Most of the decisions that he has sought to be reversed were taken during the chief ministership of late Y S R Reddy. He is a member of Parliament from Araku in the district and hence his concern over mauling of the tribalsalt39 interests by the bauxite mining mafia in the tribal area on the borders of Odisha. The union minister has quoted the Supreme Court rulings as also referred to an authoritative legal opinion of the Attorney General secured on the Presidents directive in the powers of the governor under the fifth schedule. The AGs opinion is: ” In performance of the functions and exercise of the powers under the V schedule, the Governors not bound by the aid and advice of the council of the ministers of state.” Deo refers to the Alienation of Land Transfer Regulation ( ALTR) Act that prohibits a non- tribal buying or taking on lease any land in the scheduled tribal areas and points out that the companies with which MoUs were signed were neither owned nor controlled by people belonging to Scheduled Tribes.
