Staff Reporter
Guwahati: The Eastern Zone bench of the National Green Tribunal at Kolkata has directed the Directorate of Geology & Mining, Kahilipara, Assam, to file a counter-affidavit detailing what action has been taken against the illegal miners and whether any environmental compensation has been computed and recovered from them. The Directorate was granted three weeks' time from the date of the order to file the counter-affidavit.
The Tribunal's Coram of Justice B. Amit Sthalekar as Judicial Member and Dr Arun Kumar Verma as Expert Member issued the order in an original application (No. 196/2024/EZ) filed by Arup Jyoti Das and 5 others.
The allegation in the original application is that illegal sand mining is going on in River Kaldiya within Bajali district in Assam, within 200 metres of a concrete bridge, using excavators, in gross violation of the Sand Mining Guidelines of 2016 and the Enforcement and Monitoring Guidelines for Sand Mining, 2020.
It is stated that the Director, Directorate of Geology & Mining, Assam (Respondent No.3), passed the impugned order dated March 14, 2024, granting approval of the mining plan, along with a progressive mine closure plan, in respect of the Chaibari Land Ordinary Clay Mining Permit Area, measuring 0.47 hectares on River Kaldiya, in favour of the respondent Kishor Kalita.
Further, it is stated that the approval under the Mining Plan dated March 14, 2024, is restricted to the mining lease area, and the maximum quantity of ordinary clay recommended for extraction is 8692 cubic metres within 2 years from the date of approval of Environmental Clearance (EC). The EC must be obtained from the competent authority before execution except in certain cases mentioned in a Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEF&CC) notification.
The Tribunal constituted a committee to carry out an inspection of the site in question and submit a Fact Finding Report with regard to the allegations made. An inspection report dated December 31, 2024, was filed by the District Magistrate, Bajali, and the same was taken on record.
The Tribunal observed that, till the date of the order, no counter-affidavit has been filed by the Directorate of Geology & Mining to show what action has been taken against the illegal miners and whether any environmental compensation has been computed and recovered from them.
The Tribunal, therefore, granted the Directorate a further three weeks' time for filing a counter-affidavit clearly showing what action has been taken against the illegal miners for computation and recovery of Environmental Compensation thereof.
It was also noted that respondent Kishor Kalita had not filed any counter-affidavit to date, nor had he appeared on the latest day of the hearing. He was also given three weeks to file his counter-affidavit.
The counsel for the applicants stated that he received the copy of the Inspection Report only a day earlier. He prayed for and was granted three weeks time for filing a reply to it.
The matter is next listed on May 21, 2025.
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