By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, April 28: The High Court of Meghalaya has directed the state government to file status reports on various observations of the Justice (retd) BP Katakey Committee in its 28th interim report.
A status report was filed by the government pursuant to the 27th interim report filed by the Justice Katakey panel before a division bench comprising Justices Hamarsan Singh Thangkhiew and Wanlura Diengdoh.
The Advocate General (AG) took the court through the contents of the status report to demonstrate the actions that the state respondents have taken with regard to the different aspects which have been flagged.
This includes the auction of leftover quantity of coal, recovery of unpaid demurrage charges, action taken towards forfeiture of security and part bid amount, and the bid amount on account of non-lifting of auctioned coal.
It was submitted that meetings have been conducted for amendment of the clauses in the Auction Policy 2022, as per the directions and orders of the court.
The court said the report fairly indicated the presence of 1,92,840.13 tonnes of coal which is outside the CIL designated depot, thereby implying that the same has been illegally mined, and further speaks of disposal of coal seized under Section 21 of the MMDR Act.
“The setting up of Smart Integrated Check Posts, which is a non-starter as per the report due to the unavailability of land, and action taken with regard to the closure of abandoned mines shafts, was also touched upon,” the court said in an order.
“The Status Report apart from the main areas also addressed the issue of the Coal Audit Committee with regard to verification of records from DMR as to the consumption of coal and its source thereof, by the industries and also the applications for Scientific Coal Mining, as well as the other steps taken to curb illegal mining,” the court order said.
It was submitted that active steps are being taken and though there might be incidents of illegal mining, the state government is committed to eradicating it. The status report was accepted and taken on board.
“A 28th Interim Report was also filed by the Committee, which is exhaustive in its observations and recommendations. A perusal of the Report has highlighted 3 issues, which need to be addressed immediately, first the detection of a huge quantity of undocumented coal outside the CIL designated depots amounting to 1,92,840 tonnes, of which 1,80,299.48 tonnes has been detected in East Jaintia Hills itself,” the court said.
The AG prayed that he may be allowed to seek instructions and file a report as to how and why this has occurred.
With regard to the quantity of illegal mined coal seized under the MMDR Act and the quantity of illegal mined coal found available, a report has already been furnished, the court said.
“A second aspect which needs attention is that the MBDA (Meghalaya Development Basin Development Authority), which has been tasked with the job of interpretation of aerial maps and to make volumetric assessment of coal in certain areas of Villages of South West Khasi Hills, and if necessary to take the assistance of the North East Space Application Centre, has not been done.”
The court said it was noted in the report that the MBDA has not even cared to attend the meetings convened by the Committee, nor has it taken any steps to interpret the aerial (UAV) survey maps in the 6 villages in South West Khasi Hills, or generated any report thereupon.
“The third aspect which needs urgent attention is with the issuance of Mining Transport Challans (MTC) issued by the Directorate of Mineral Resources, wherein in two instances, it has been detected that the issuance of the same is in violation of clause 10 (c) of the Revised Comprehensive Plan, 2022, as the name and address of the owner and driver of the vehicle and their Mobile numbers and also the Mobile number of the owner of the coal has not been mentioned, apart from the fact that the vehicles that were checked were carrying Mineral Transport Challans issued under the numbers of different vehicles,” the court said.
It directed the state respondents to file a detailed status report especially on the aspect of detection of excess coal by the Garuda UAV in East Jaintia Hills.
The AG also prayed before the court that the matters under the specially designated courts with regard to coal ceased under Section 21 of the MMDA Act be expedited.
“It is ordered accordingly and it is expected that the Special Courts dealing with the same dispose of the matters at the earliest. With regard to the other aspects before necessary orders are passed, let a fresh Status Report be filed within 4 (four) weeks,” the court ordered.