SHILLONG, Feb 1: The High Court of Meghalaya on Wednesday found it unacceptable that the state government or its officials would be unaware of 57 coke plants functioning clandestinely at night and shut them down only when prodded by the court following a public interest litigation.
Hearing a case pertaining to the functioning of illegal coke plants in the state, a division bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Wanlura Diengdoh said it is the bounden duty of the state to ensure that no activity that requires a license is carried on without the license being obtained.
“Indeed, the state’s stand on the entire issue of illegal mining of coal and functioning of illegal coke plants has been less than satisfactory and, at the highest, equivocal,” the court said.
The court said it is a matter of “crying shame” that despite orders of the Supreme Court, the state government brought about a state of anarchy by flouting such orders and “apparently actively” aiding the illegal mining of coal and the functioning of coke plants in the state.
The court further said the rampant functioning of illegal coke plants leads to the obvious inference of rampant illegal mining of coal in the State despite the State government’s assurance to the contrary. “The chief secretary will file a report at the first sitting of the court on February 3 as to the action taken against the erring officials, including notices of suspension, initiation of departmental proceedings, sequestration of assets and the like for the flagrant operation of illegal coke plants,” the court stated. It said the chief secretary will bring the report to the court and will remain personally liable for any illegal mining of coal or illegal operation of any coke plant in the state.
“The remainder of the matter will be considered after receipt of the chief secretary’s report. Though the state is represented by learned advocate-general, the registrar-general will ensure that a copy of this order is served on the chief secretary forthwith,” the court said.
An affidavit was filed on behalf of the deputy commissioner of West Khasi Hills on January 27 following a direction to shut down all illegal coke plants in the district.
The ensuing raids revealed that the coke plants were operating at night in the remote areas clandestinely.
The units were immediately shut down and the raw coal and finished product in the form of coke found on the site were seized in situ. According to Section 21 of the MMDR Ac of 1957, the quantity of coal used in these plants and the volume of coke produced were confiscated and disposed of.
In addition, the equipment found was confiscated. Since the quantity of the material seized required some time for transportation to some government depot, it was seized at the site and kept in the custody of the district administration for transportation after the determination of the quantity.
A closure notice was pasted on each of the 57 coke plants and an FIR was filed at the Shallang police station.
