New Delhi, Jan. 29 -- In a curious turn of events, the Supreme Court has decided to hear in person the district mining officer (DMO) of Bageshwar district in Uttarakhand after learning that her statement before the Uttarakhand High Court directly contradicted a report relied upon by the apex court to lift a blanket ban on soapstone mining in the district. A bench of justices Sanjay Kumar and K Vinod Chandran on Wednesday directed Nazia Hassan, the Bageshwar DMO, to remain present before it on February 18, observing that it would "like to know the truth" behind her assertion before the high court that no mining lease had been given a "clean chit" by a committee whose report had, days earlier, persuaded the Supreme Court to allow 29 lease-hol...