SHILLONG: The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed transportation of extracted coal for another four months after hearing a petition filed by the coal miners.
The last extension granted by the court was till May 31 this year.
The quantity of extracted coal that is yet to be transported is around 7.8 lakh metric tonnes with the miners having exported around 23 lakh metric tonnes.
The State Co-ordination Committee of Coal Owners, Miners & Dealers Forum, Meghalaya (SCCCOMDF) which have been pursuing the case said that the interim order of the court is a temporarily relief for the miners.
The forum in an application filed three months ago had appealed before the Supreme Court to permit the transportation of remaining extracted coal.
The SCCCOMDF said the forum had the assistance of Supreme Court lawyer, Nalin S Kohli and his team that includes counsels namely P.Yobin, Saurabh Sharma, Jogender Handoo and Prabhas Bajaj.
The main application of both the state government and the miners, however, is pending before the National Green Tribunal which had imposed interim ban on coal mining activities in 2014 citing environmental hazards.