HC quashes plea seeking stay on public hearing

SHILLONG, Nov 19: The Meghalaya High Court has quashed the petition of one Shanialang Suchen seeking stay on the public hearing on the proposed limestone and shale mining in at Brishyrnot, East Jaintia Hills, slated for November 21.
In a writ petition, Suchen had challenged the public notice of Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB) regarding holding of public hearing to be held at the campus of Deputy Commissioner’s Office in Khliehriat.
He also took exception to only 100 people being allowed to participate in the public hearing, while asking of the Court to stay the holding of the hearing on November 21. The matter was placed for hearing before a bench comprising Justice W Diengdoh on Thursday.
In response, Advocate General (AG) Amit Kumar informed the Court that the public hearing was earlier attempted on two occasions but due to unruly crowd, the DC had to postpone it twice.
Informing that the proposed public hearing on November 21 is strictly in conformity with the guidelines and with the consent and direction of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), and also as per the procedure as enumerated in the EIA Notification, 2006, the AG told the court that the petitioner should attend the hearing and submit his objections or suggestions there itself.
The AG further informed that if the total number of persons exceeds 100 then the next batch including 100 more persons will participate in the public hearing on the same day and at the same venue after completion of the first batch of people.
Hence, the total number of participants in the public hearing is in batches of 100 and not restricted to 100 persons only.
The court, after hearing the submissions at length, rejected the petition finding no substance in the case.