SHILLONG: The National Green Tribunal will meet on August 9 to decide on the coal mining issue.
Prior to that, the Supreme Court on July 31 will take up the pending issue of finalising mining guidelines and mining policy.
Supreme Court advocate and counsel for Meghalaya Ranjan Mukherjee said on Sunday there was delay in taking up the coal issue since a new chairman was appointed only recently.
It was only on July 9 that former Supreme Court judge Adarsh Kumar Goel assumed charge as the chairperson of NGT after the post had been lying vacant since December 2017 following the retirement of Justice Swatanter Kumar, who headed NGT for five years.
Sources said NGT will make a major decision on the matter during the next hearing since the matter has been pending for the last four years.
NGT had ordered an interim ban on rat-hole coal mining in the state since April 17, 2014.
Sources said there is pressure on the present government to find solution to the coal mining issue as several memorandums were submitted from various quarters.
