New Delhi, March 25: The Supreme Court today agreed to hear a petition filed by villagers challenging allotment of forest land for mining to French cement manufacturing company Lafarge in Meghalaya.
A bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices R V Raveendran and J M Panchal referred the petiion filed by Shella Action Committee formed by the tribals of Shella village to the forest bench which would hear the case tomorrow.
In their petition, mentioned by senior advocate P S Narasimha, the villagers requested transfer of their PIL filed before the Gauhati High Court in 2007 before the apex court to hear it along with the main petition filed by the French cement major.
On March 24, the Centre had approached the apex court requesting that it vacate its stay on mining activities carried out by Lafarge and contended that otherwise it would affect diplomatic relations with Bangladesh.
—Agencies