SHILLONG, June 21: The full bench of the High Court of Meghalaya has directed the state government to take immediate steps to dispose of the previously-mined coal.
The idea is to thwart freshly-mined coal getting mixed up with previously-mined coal and avoid the excuse proffered that the freshly-mined coal was a part of the previously-mined coal.
The full bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee, Justice HS Thangkhiew and Justice W Diengdoh passed the order on Tuesday after hearing a PIL on illegal coal mining in the state.
The state filed a report by way of an affidavit affirmed on June 20, 2022 by the Commissioner of Mining and Geology department.
Justice (retd) BP Katakey, appointed by the court to oversee and ensure that all directions issued by the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) pertaining to coal mining in the state are implemented, also filed the first interim report dated June 20, 2022.
Justice Katakey’s report includes a detailed chart indicating the recommendations made in the preliminary report that he filed, the action taken as per a report received on June 4, 2022 and the action taken as per a further report received on June 15, 2022.
“On a preliminary reading of the first interim report, it is evident that a majority of the directions are yet to be implemented though such directions were issued several years back,” the bench observed.
The court ordered for a copy of the first interim report to be made over to the state for its comments on the extent of compliance as indicated in the report.
It ordered that future affidavits in this matter should be filed by the state through its chief secretary since the chief secretary has been made responsible to ensure compliance of the directions in the relevant orders.
The court also asked the chief secretary to explain why a recommendation should not be made by it for taking appropriate action against such officials in view of the abject failure of the state to comply with the directions. “In particular, immediate steps should be taken to dispose of the previously-mined coal so that freshly-mined coal cannot be mixed up with the previous coal and an excuse proffered that the freshly mined coal was also a part of the previously-mined coal,” the order said.
For the purpose of ensuring the speedy disposal of coal, the Coal India Limited (CIL) is added as a party to the present proceedings. The CIL will be represented before Justice Katakey to ensure that the previously-mined coal is disposed of as expeditiously as possible.
“Let the matter appear a fortnight hence for the state’s comments on the first interim report filed by Justice Katakey. By then, the state should be ready with timelines that should meet the approval of Justice Katakey, for the implementation of all the directions issued in the relevant orders passed by the Supreme Court and the NGT,” the order said.
For the moment, Justice Katakey will be paid a further ad hoc remuneration of Rs 1.5 lakh and he will also be entitled to run a Secretariat till the present commission lasts at an expense not exceeding Rs 30,000 per month, the court said in its order.
According to the court, it also appears that the state may be less than willing to prosecute the persons who indulged in or continue to indulge in illegal coal mining for obvious reasons.
“An extreme adverse inference may be drawn by the court if the State is found lacking in such regard. Affidavits have also been filed by the Central Pollution Control Board, the North Eastern Space Applications Centre and the Regional Office of the Ministry of Environment and Forest. Copies of all affidavits filed in these proceedings should be made available to Justice Katakey,” the order stated.
