The Meghalaya High Court has directed Regeenal Shylla, member of the State Coordination Coal, Miners Dealers and Transporters Association (SCCMDTA), to be present personally in the court on August 21 over his recent comments at a press conference.
The order was passed by the High Court today during hearing of Shylla’s writ petition regarding coal mining.
During today’s hearing, the lawyer who appeared for the State government produced before the court newspaper clippings with regard to the press conference where Shylla had made comments regarding the coal mining issue despite the fact that the case is still pending in court.
“The writ petitioner (Shylla) is directed to be present personally before the court on 21-08-2024 at 10:30 am,” the High Court said in the order.
It may be mentioned that at the press conference on July 30, Shylla stated that the special operation procedure (SOP) for coal mining notified by the State government is favourable to rich business tycoons who can afford to acquire 100 hectares of land while small coal traders who cannot afford to acquire such a huge tract of land would be deprived.
He also pointed out that in the Mineral Concession Rules, 2016 with amendments dated July 11, 2017, January 29, 2018, December 20, 2018, January 24, 2019, September 21, 2020 and January 16, 2021, no such provisions of minimum area of 100 hectares could be found to be authorised for coal prospecting license and/or mining lease.
Shylla also said that under Section 6 (1) (B) of the MMDR Act, 1957, the power to set the area limit is vested to the Central government.
