 "Government to extend panel on illegal mining")
New Delhi: The government has extended till 16 July, 2013, the tenure of the Justice M B Shah Commission of Inquiry set up to enquire into cases of illegal mining, it was announced Friday.
The union cabinet Thursday approved the extension which will entail additional expenditure of Rs 50 lakh.
The extension has been sought since collection and compiling information on mining from the seven important mineral producing states of Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Goa and Madhya Pradesh was taking time.
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The commission was set up to identify cases of illegal mining, and also to identify and rectify management, regulatory and monitoring system failures in curbing illegal mining.
Concerned over reports of large scale illegal mining and failure of state governments to curb the menace, the government had set up the commission on 22 November, 2011.
The commission based in Ahmedabad was required to submit its report by 16 July, 2012.
IANS