Environment minister Jairam Ramesh usually hits the headlines for holding back clearances. Of late, he has been in the news for giving them.

On September 9, 2010, Ramesh?s ministry gave Ramgad Minerals? mines in Karnataka the much-needed Stage II clearance for iron ore mining on 335.04 hectare of forest land. This followed the company?s letter on August 5 saying it had completed all formalities and had even deposited R3.15 crore with the state?s Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management And Planning Authority. CAMPA funds, the environment ministry says, cannot be deposited unless the state?s divisional forest officer demands it.

On March 16, 2011, however, the Karnataka government wrote to Ramesh saying the approval was ?contrary to law? since it could be given only after the state recommended such a clearance. In view of this, the letter by HM Mallikarjuna Swamy, undersecretary in the state?s forest department, says, ?I am directed to request you to take immediate action to cancel the ?final approval (Stage I)? ? (given on) 09-09-2010?. The letter added there were boundary disputes which were being investigated by the Karnataka Lokayukta; there was also a ban on forest mining leases in the Bellary district, where the Ramgad mine is ? the ban had been imposed by the ministry of environment and forests itself.

This is the second case in as many months that Ramesh has been caught on the wrong foot. On January 6, 2011, Ramesh?s ministry revised the guidelines to the Forest Conservation Act to say ?it is advisable that work should not be started?? this was a subtle distinction from the original guidelines that said ?work should not be started? ? on non-forest land until the forest clearance was granted. On February 17, Ramesh said the guidelines had been issued without consulting him, that he took a serious note of it, and had it removed.

In the interim period, however, the environment ministry cleared a Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) project using the revised guidelines. Two days ago, after the issue was raised in Parliament following a newspaper report, Ramesh asked the Orissa government to initiate action against JSPL.

While Ramesh blamed unnamed ministry officials for the JSPL lapse, ministry officials argue the Ramgad case is different. According to officials, the state government was at fault as it never took cognizance of the fact that the Ramgad mine was being encroached upon by three other mines namely- Trident Minerals, SB Minerals and Veeyam Minerals and ?illegalities were happening because of which the issue came to Delhi?.

The ministry?s Forest Advisory Committee then decided to withdraw permission of the other three mines and the Ramgad also moved the Supreme Court. ?The Supreme Court gave status quo on mining but said that the compliance issuance of stage II clearance may continue. The state government did not forward us the compliance but Ramgad Minerals deposited the CAMPA money and approached us for stage II clearance? said an MoEF official.

In fact, the MoEF argues, the state government was also given the liberty to get back to the MoEF in a month?s time if it found ?anything objectionable in the compliance and hand over the land only if it was satisfied with the compliance of conditions. This was the clear cut order,? the official explained.

Interestingly, the ministry says that no one can deposit the CAMPA money without the demand notice of the required divisional forest officer. ?We don?t see any problem with the stage II clearance and the state government should not say that its view was not taken because they were not forwarding these developments to us,? the official added.

A senior former environment ministry official, however, told FE that while Campa funds were just one part of the issue, the central ministry cannot clear any forest project without the explicit approval of the state.