The Meghalaya High Court has directed for issuing of suo motu contempt notice to Chief Secretary Donald P. Wahlang and Mining Department Secretary Ethelbert Kharmalki “for the flagrant and deliberate violation” of the earlier orders of the full bench of the High Court including the latest order of the court passed on August 25.
In an order passed today, the full bench of the High Court said that the Chief Secretary and Mining have deliberately violated the orders of the court by their willful failure to make an inventory of the exact quantum of coal at each place as ordered by the court on August 25.
“It will be evident that the relevant order noticed a previous inventory that may have been presented before the National Green Tribunal and carried to the Supreme Court and the various places where the coal was dumped by the roadside. The order required a fresh inventory to be made, which does not seem to have been done,” the court said.
Further, the High Court said the two officials had willfully failed in their official capacities to implement the prohibition of mining coal in the State without obtaining appropriate license in accordance with law.
“Instances in such regard are available in plain sight all over the State, including in Khliehriat and nearby areas, and are continuously reported in newspapers. Indeed, recent deaths due to rat-hole mining have occurred and have been widely reported as recently as last week illegal mining in a remote area of West Khasi Hills was also reported,” it said.
“It is noticed with alarm that the administration has been attempting to obfuscate the issue which leads to the perception that the administration may not be serious in implementing the prohibition on coal-mining. Rigs and similar structures are used at the mining sites which are visible from quite a distance. Freshly mined coal is easy to identify and is being regularly dumped at several places in the State which previously had no collection of coal. There are also petitions which have been filed pertaining to the transportation of the recently mined coal and the administration turning a Nelson’s eye to the same. Indeed, one of the petitions pending in this court speaks of illegally mined coal in the State being shown to have originated in Assam by forging and fabricating documents in such regard,” the High Court added.
However, the High Court said that the foregoing part of this order will not be effective and will remain in abeyance since Advocate-General Amit Kumar sought ten days’ time to seriously address all issues expressed by the court.
“Let the matter appear ten days hence. The report filed by the State to demonstrate purported compliance of the order dated August 25, 2022 must immediately be placed before Justice Katakey for his verification of the steps alleged to have been taken by the State,” the court said while listing the matter on September 22.
