Assam: NGT gives a final four weeks’ time to file affidavits in illegal sand mining case

Morigaon illegal sand mining case

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) Eastern Zone bench at Kolkata directed the state respondents and State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), Assam, to file their affidavits within four weeks and ‘no more’, as it stated its ire at the delay in filing of such affidavits, which it questioned whether it was done deliberately ‘to aid and assist the illegal sand miners’.

The Coram of Justice B. Amit Sthalekar as judicial member and Dr Arun Kumar Verma as expert member stated this while hearing an Original Application (No.169/2023/EZ) filed by Jinti Deka & Others on December 6, 2024, regarding illegal sand mining in Chatabori village of Morigaon district in Assam, along with certain photographs showing the activity.

On December 9, 2024, the Tribunal had granted three weeks’ time to SEIAA, Assam, and the state respondents, the Government of Assam, to file their respective counter affidavits. However, it observed that even after the passage of four months, the said affidavits have not been filed. “This is most regrettable. We do not understand whether it is being done deliberately to aid and assist the illegal sand miners,” the bench stated.

In an earlier hearing, the counsel for the applicants submitted that this matter dates back to 2023, and in the course of two years, large tracts of land belonging to the villagers have been destroyed due to illegal mining.

In light of the allegations, the Tribunal directed the state respondents and SEIAA, Assam, to file their affidavits ‘within four weeks and no more’.

The matter is to be listed before the NGT next on July 14, 2025.

Also Read: Assam: Sand Mining Scam Exposed In Dhubri, Govt Incurs Revenue Loss Worth Crores

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