GUWAHATI: Hearing a bunch of public interest litigations, the Gauhati High Court has directed the concerned officials of the Central Government, in collaboration with the responsible officers of the Assam Government, to ensure that the mining activities being undertaken by Coal India Ltd. shall not be allowed in Assam.
The matter was led by Debajit Kumar Das, Advocate Gauhati High Court along with RS Choudhury and H Betala before the Division Bench of Gauhati High Court comprising Chief Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice Suman Shyam who has constituted a green Bench for taking up matters relating to Environment.
The petitioner Mrinmoy Khataniar has tried to highlight the depleting forest in the Saleki Proposed Reserve Forest under the Digboi division and the illegal mining activities being carried out in the area, particularly being attributed to the respondent Coal India Ltd.
Addressing the Gauhati High Court on the prayer for interim stay, the counsel D.K. Das, representing the petitioner in PIL 29/2020 and PIL 39/2022 drew the attention of the Court to the letter dated 17 November 2020 written by the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change to the Deputy Conservator of Forests, Assam.
According to the letter, it was pointed out that the user agency (Coal India Ltd) is continuing with mining activity over the forest area after the proposal was recommended by the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) in 2013.
The letter also conveyed that the user agency is continuously working in the area after the expiry of the original lease period in 2003. In this regard, FAC observed that the violation done by the user agency from 2003 to 2013 had been appropriately discussed in 2013 by FAC and accordingly it had recommended appropriate action.
As of date, the State Govt. should not have allowed mining in the area prior to final approval under the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) 1980.
There has been gross neglect on this account on behalf of the State Govt. After perusing all records and facts related to the project proposal FAC recommended the proposal for approval of Stage-I with Standard, General and following specific conditions.
According to the recommendations, the state government was to abide by all conditions as specified in its recommendations of FAC dated June 10-11, 2013.
In addition to the above, the state government should have taken action for the violation, carried out by the user agency after June 10-11, 2013.
'The state government should have inquired into the matter of gross violation and identified officials responsible for this violation and action should have been taken against them.
The recommendations also suggested that the user agency shall not carry out any work in violation of the provisions of the FCA 1980 till all penalty and compensatory levies are deposited and Stage II approval for the project is granted by the Centre and state.
Chief Wild Life Warden should submit his independent comments as requested by the Centre and state vide letter dated August 5, 2013.
The Court said that the council for the petitioner submitted that as the Central Government itself has observed that the user agency, i.e. Coal India Ltd. is continuing the mining operation even after the expiry of the original lease period, it should be restrained from carrying out the mining operation in violation of the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 till all penalties and compensatory levies are deposited and Stage II approval for the project is granted by concerned authorities.
R.K.D. Choudhury, Deputy Solicitor General of India submitted that as a matter of fact, Coal India Ltd. has stopped its mining activities in the reserved forest areas and the mining activities are actually being carried out by other persons/ entities.
“Be that as it may, undisputedly it is the obligation of MoEF & CC in collaboration with the State Government to ensure that illegal mining activities are not carried out within the State of Assam which is home to the pristine forests which are virtually the lungs of the earth. Thus, we direct that the concerned officials of the Central Government, in collaboration with the responsible officers of the Assam State Government, shall ensure that the mining activities being undertaken by Coal India Ltd. shall not be allowed unless the conditions mentioned in the afore quoted letter are satisfied. Immediate steps shall also be taken to ensure that all illegal mining activities in the area in question are stopped forthwith,” ordered the Court.
It needs to be mentioned that recently opposition party Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) alleged that the northeastern state is losing nearly Rs 2,000 crore in revenue every month due to rampant illegal rat-hole coal mining in several places, particularly in Tinsukia district.
The party sent a memorandum to the President, Prime Minister, Supreme Court Chief Justice, Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, NHRC Chairman and National Green Tribunal Chairman highlighting the issue.
“We have been highlighting rampant illegal coal mining, particularly rat-hole mining, in various parts of Assam. It has a direct impact on the environment, public health and the state exchequer,” AJP president Lurinjyoti Gogoi told the media in February this year.
He claimed that the government is aware that illegal coal mining, which has continued unabated for decades in Assam, has caused large-scale destruction to Dehing Patkai National Park — the largest rainforest in the Northeast.
The AJP, in its memorandum, pointed out that the NGT had in 2014 banned rat-hole coal mining while alleging that it is still going on and the Assam government is aware of the illegal activities in the Digboi Forest Division.