Collect penalty, compensation from illegal miners: NGT to state
Bhartesh Singh Thakur
Chandigarh, August 27
Upholding the findings of two panels that exposed illegal mining at Dadam (Bhiwani), the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ruled for recovering the cost of illegal mining (penalty) and damage to the environment from the project proponent (PP).
The illegal mining at Dadam site got highlighted when five workers died in a landslide on January 1. Later, two more workers died on April 24 due to rockfall. Formed on the directions of the NGT, a
seven-member panel under Justice Pritam Pal and another eight-member joint committee confirmed the illegal mining at Dadam.
Disposing of the case on August 26, the NGT bench, headed by chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, observed, “…the PP (M/s Goverdhan Mines and Minerals) has undertaken mining illegally beyond the permissible area and in the violation of the plan as confirmed by the satellite imagery.” The bench added that it has “failed to provide the necessary green belt of 7.5-m width along the lease boundary” and “a safety zone” inside the leased mining area.
“The compensation thus has to be assessed and recovered from the PP for undertaking mining beyond the permissible area and depth, and also the cost of restoration of damage to the plantation, apart from the cost of illegally mined material,” the NGT said.
It noted that Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal in an action-taken report (ATR), dated August 20, said about imposing a fine of Rs 29.65 crore on present PP M/s Goverdhan Mines for extracting 10.66 lakh MT mineral illegally, and issuance of a show-cause notice of Rs 34.88 crore on previous PP M/s Sunder Marketing Associates for damaging Dadam distributary and extracting 1.89 lakh MT of clay and 12.45 lakh MT of stone illegally.
The Forest Department has filed a case each against M/s Sunder Marketing for illegal mining over 1.241 hectare, and M/s Goverdhan Mines over 0.097 hectare in the Special Environment Court, Kurukshetra.
The Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) has also filed a case against the present PP in the Special Environment Court for the violation of environmental norms, while the Irrigation Department has issued a show-cause notice of Rs 5.84 crore to M/s Sunder Marketing for damage to Dadam distributary, and an FIR was also registered on July 20.
The NGT order read, “…Mining operations in the present case have resulted in the generation of tonnes of dust emissions without requisite mitigation measures. This calls for remedial action for future and fixing accountability for the past.”
“…penalty for illegal mining equal to the cost of mined material already assessed has to be treated as final,” added the NGT.
However, instead of considering the cost of damage to the environment at Rs 7.5 crore on the present PP, the NGT fixed interim compensation at 10 per cent of the value of mined material, pending final compensation being determined by a joint committee headed by the Additional Chief Secretary, Mining, Haryana; with HSPCB Member Secretary; Central Pollution Control Board Regional Officer; Indian Bureau of Mines, Dhanbad; and Principal Chief Conservation of Forest (PCCF), Haryana, as members.
The committee will finalise the cost of damage to the environment in respect of the previous PP too. “It is well-settled that as per the precautionary principle of environmental law, the non-availability of adequate scientific reports/study/data is no ground to ignore the degradation,” ruled the NGT, while asking the committee to finalise the matter within three months.
