SC puts foot down on transportation of coal

SHILLONG: The Supreme Court has refused to grant permission to transport coal after examining two applications.
During the hearing of the case on Monday, the State Co-Ordination Committee of Coal Owners Miners and Dealers Forum and coal dealer from Garo Hills, Babul Marak sought permission to transport already extracted coal.
The petitioners sought the intervention of the court to allow their trucks which were in transit before January 15 to transport coal and also to pass through the government check posts and weighbridges to their destinations.
Earlier on January 15, the court had banned transportation of coal.
Later, the state government through a notification allowed the passage of trucks in transit but subsequently it decided to enforce the ban.
One of the reasons given by the petitioners was that it takes days for the extracted coal from the Garo Hills to exit Meghalaya and the second reason given was that there were habitations along the highway.
However, the division bench rejected both the applications.
Amicus curiae and senior advocate Colin Gonsalves informed the court that in the past too, similar applications were rejected.
The court will soon hear the pending case of Lber Laloo on lifting the ban on coal mining in the state.