The preliminary report filed by retired judge B P Katakey regarding illegal coal mining in Meghalaya has exposed the State government’s violation of the orders issued by the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The 41-page report dated May 23, 2022 was submitted to the full bench of the Meghalaya High Court. Voluminous papers in support of the report have also been filed.
No copy of the report was directed to be made over to the State government for obvious reasons, since the High Court first wanted to assess to what extent the orders passed by the Supreme Court and the directions issued by the NGT had been complied with or implemented by the various authorities.
The preliminary findings in the report indicated that except for notifying the Meghalaya Minerals (Prevention of Illegal Mining, Transportation and Storage) Rules, 2022 as recently as March 24, 2022, “none of the directions issued by the Hon’ble Supreme Court … and the NGT have been complied with by the concerned authorities…”
The authorities that have been specifically mentioned include the Meghalaya government, the State and Central Pollution Control Boards, the North Eastern Space Application Centre and the Integrated Regional Office of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
In the preliminary findings the details of the non-compliance have been pointed out. In addition, the report made recommendations to ensure implementation of the outstanding directions in point form, so that the appropriate agencies can deal with the various aspects.
During today’s hearing, the full bench of the High Court stated that it was a matter of regret that orders passed by the Supreme Court and by the NGT continued to be violated and the directions issued are not implemented.
The High Court also directed the State government to immediately take note and implement the recommendations made in the preliminary report and address the relevant matters within four weeks from today.
“It is made clear that the time for implementation of the outstanding directions will not be counted from today or from the date of institution of the present suo motu proceedings, but from the relevant dates when such directions were issued. As such, all relevant authorities should get their acts in order and ensure the complete implementation of the directions within four weeks from date,” the High Court said.
The High Court also said that Justice Katakey will continue to monitor the implementation of the recommendations, including the outstanding orders and the directions of the Supreme Court and the NGT.
“For such a purpose, Justice Katakey will make periodic visits to Shillong, which will be facilitated by the State government. A secretary-level member in the State’s civil service should be attached to Justice Katakey to facilitate the monitoring work,” the court said.
It also directed that copies of the preliminary report by Justice Katakey should be given to the lawyer representing the State government as well as the Assistant Solicitor-General representing the Central government.
“All the authorities specifically referred to in paragraph 3.2 of the report dated May 23, 2022 should respond individually to indicate to what extent the outstanding directions have been complied with. The State should ensure that copies of this order and the report are immediately reached to all the authorities referred to in paragraph 3.2 of the preliminary report,” the High Court said while fixing June 21 as the next date of hearing.
