NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the National Green Tribunal on its order imposing Rs 100-crore fine on the Meghalaya government in connection with the coal ban case and fixed April 24 for final hearing.
The Additional Solicitor General of India, in his submission, sought more time for the Union of India to file its report on coal mining in Meghalaya.
Advocate General Amit Kumar and State Counsel Ranjan Mukherjee submitted that the NGT order “is bad in law on a number of grounds and it should be set aside”.
Senior Advocate A Sharan also appeared with Kumar in an appeal filed against the January 4 order of the tribunal regarding imposition of fine.
The Supreme Court had asked the state to submit the report of the technical committee on the quantity of already extracted coal lying in the state. The same will be submitted before the next date of hearing.
The Centre once again failed to submit the status report on its decision on coal mining in Meghalaya as previously directed by the court.
Since the appeal against the NGT’s penalty order came up for hearing for the first time, the apex court issued notice to the respondents on the state’s appeal seeking stay of the order.
During the applications for transportation of coal, Mukherjee submitted that the technical committee’s report has to be brought on record within a week.
