Lafarge case New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday sought a response from the Centre on an expert committee's report as also other conditions put by Attorney General G E Vahanvati for allowing French cement giant Lafarge to resume mining in the forests of Meghalaya for its Bangladesh plant. The Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) was asked to respond by April 26 to the report of the expert committe which had conducted Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environment Management Plan (EMP) of the mining area and found that the company had complied with environmental norms. A Special Forest Bench headed by Chief Justuce K G Balakrishnan also sought the opinion of MoEF on the five conditions by Vahanvati, including setting up of Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for which Lafarge will have to deposit Rs 55 crore towards Net Present Value (NPV) for the welfare of the local people around the mines in Meghalaya. During the proceedings, the Attorney General requested the court to expeditiously deal with the matter which involved sensitive political and diplomatic issues. "It may hurt the relationship with our neighbour which is very friendly and co-operative," he said, drawing a retort of the Bench. "We only want compliance of law. Tell me without a proper EIA, how could you mine?" the Bench, also comprising Justices S H Kapadia and Aftab Alam, said. Meanwhile, senior advocate U U Lalit, who is assisting the court as amicus curiae in the matter, opposed any sanction for mining in the forest area. He submitted the apex court had closed 5,000 saw mills in the North East for the very same reason. "Anybody who is violating the environment cannot be allowed. Rule of law must be followed... there is a blunt violation of law in this case," he said.