Apanel set up by the Supreme Court to investigate Karnataka’s illegal mining mess has made some important recommendations. It says 49 licences are patently illegal and should be scrapped. Another 72 mining companies should be fined for operating outside sanctioned areas. It also asks for Karnataka’s iron ore output to be capped at 30 million tonnes, down a third from its 45-million-tonne level till the court banned all mining in the state. These strictures are welcome: they could help restart mining in the state and bring Karnataka’s crony capitalism to heel.