The recent demand by the Transporters’ Association of Jaintia Hills that Government should lift the ban on coal mining and make it a legal activity by following the Supreme Court directives on safeguarding the environment and following the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act 2015 is a pragmatic one. Why allow coal to be transported illegally and be converted into black market business? But mine owners have always had a problem with the MMDR Act because of its stringent provisions for ecological and bio-diversity conservation. Mine owners, with an eye only on profit and not wanting to part with any amount for environmental protection have been arguing that Meghalaya is a Sixth Schedule state which is exempted from central mining laws.
The Meghalaya Assembly had in 2015 passed a resolution to urge the Centre to consider invoking a section of the Sixth Schedule to ensure that Central Mineral and Mining Laws do not apply in scheduled areas of the state. Para 12 (A) of the Sixth Schedule deals with “Application of Acts of Parliament and of the Legislature of the State of Meghalaya to autonomous districts and autonomous regions in the State of Meghalaya.” According to its section (b), the President may issue a notification by which any Act of Parliament will not apply to an autonomous district or an autonomous region in Meghalaya or any part thereof and any such direction may have retrospective effect. The resolution wants that following a Presidential notification, provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, and the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1957 shall not apply (or shall apply with modifications) to the autonomous region (Scheduled areas) in Meghalaya. Interestingly Para 12(A) of the Sixth Schedule clearly states that whenever there is a conflict of interest between the District Councils and the state legislature, the latter would prevail. Hence the same State Government that wants to curb the powers of the District Councils is now using the same clause to exclude an Act of Parliament from being applied in the State. This is a peculiar situation indeed!
The MMDR Act requires that a proper mining plan be approved before a mining lease is granted to any individual miner or a mining company. The mining plan obviously has to factor in many important factors such as a transparent bidding process. Above all the MMDR Act clearly specifies (a) reduction in waste generation and related waste management practices and promotion of recycling of materials (b) minimising and mitigating adverse environmental impacts particularly in respect of ground water, air, ambient noise and land; (c) ensuring minimal ecological disturbance, in terms of bio-diversity, flora, fauna and habitat; (d) promoting restoration and reclamation activities so as to make optimal use of mined out land for the benefit of the local communities. These clauses are imperative to save the environment of Meghalaya where three important rivers have already turned toxic. The mine owners don’t want to be burdened with these niceties. Herein lies the rub!
