SC rejects Gali brothers' plea to lift stay on mining

In a major setback to Gali brothers in the Karnataka government - G Janardhan Reddy (Minister for Tourism and Infrastructure) and Karunakara Reddy (Minister for Revenue), the Supreme Court on Monday refused to lift the stay imposed on all their mining operations in Andhra Pradesh.

Earlier on March 23, the apex court banned the mining activities in Andhra Pradesh and asked the Reddy brothers to "come clean" on their alleged illegal activities. 

Despite stiff opposition from the Gali brothers, a bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Deepak Verma appointed a high-level committee headed by Survey of India (SI) to verify charges of largescale encroachment by the Obulapuram Mining Corporation owned by the duo.The alleged encroachment includes certain reserve forest areas in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. 

"What is wrong in doing it? Let there be a survey. What is the problem? If you have objections to any particular official, we will exclude him," the Bench said while turning down the ministers' plea.