External affairs minister S.M. Krishna on Sunday denied having any role in illegal mining in Karnataka and said he had not given any licence for mining in forest areas in his capacity as the chief minister of the state.
Mr Krishna’s statement came a day after Karnataka’s Lokayukta court ordered a probe against him along with former state chief ministers N. Dharam Singh and H.D. Kumaraswamy.
Mr Krishna drew attention to the report of former Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde that had excluded him from the list of bigwigs involved in illegal mining in the state.
In a release issued on Sunday, Mr Krishna said Justice Hegde had “clearly clarified” that he was not involved in any mining scam. “More than once he (Hegde) had reiterated the same,” Mr Krishna said. He insisted that he did not “denotify the forest land but after a Cabinet approval and a gazette notification had permitted mining.”
“All decisions are policy matters related to the state,” the statement said. “All matters pertaining to all issues will be furnished,” it added.
Mr Krishna said that in a gazette notification of March 15, 2003, the application for mining was called for, wherein it was clearly mentioned that in case the mining comes under forest areas, the clearance from the forest department has to be obtained.