The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a batch of petitions filed by various companies, including Vedanta group firm Sesa Sterlite and Bangalore-based Deccan Mining Syndicate, challenging the provisions of apex court rules by which the review petitions are decided by judges in their chambers by circulation and without hearing any of the parties.
The companies had challenged the constitutional validity of Order XL Rule 3 of the Supreme Court Rules 1966 on the ground that the provision was “arbitrary, unreasonable, unfair and unconstitutional”.
“A judgment passed by this court in a petition filed under Article 32 of the Constitution of India is final and there is no right of appeal to the aggrieved party”
Apart from Sesa Sterlite and Deccan Mining, the other companies whose petitions were rejected included VS Lad & Sons, Hothur Traders, M/S Thangavelu, Tungabhadra Minerals, M/S Lakshminarayana Mining Company.
However, a bench headed by Chief Justice HL Dattu asked Sesa Sterlite to mention its plea seeking review of its order on mining cap before the forest bench after its senior counsel Kapil Sibal argued that the company was not given an opportunity of hearing before imposition of 30-mt cap on iron ore mining in Karnataka.
