No mining in wildlife sanctuaries, national parks, orders Supreme Court

New Delhi, June 3

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered that national parks and wildlife sanctuaries must have an Ecologically-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) of minimum one km from the demarcated boundary of protected forests.

A Bench of Justice LN Rao and Justice Aniruddha Bose made it clear that no mining within the national parks and wildlife sanctuaries shall be permitted. Similarly, no permanent structure will be allowed within the ESZ, it added.

“We direct that each protected forest will have an ESZ of one km. If ESZ is prescribed already which goes beyond one km buffer zone then such an extended boundary shall prevail. The Chief Conservator of Forests of each State shall make a list of subsisting structures under the ESZ, and submit a report to this Court within three months,” said Justice Bose, while pronouncing the verdict.

The direction came in TN Godavarman versus Union of India – a PIL – raising issues relating to environment and forests.

The activities currently going on within ESZ limits can continue only with the permission of the Chief Conservator of Forests. It ordered the Central Empowered Committee to compute compensation for unlawful mining carried out at the Jamwa Ramgarh Wildlife Sanctuary in Rajasthan.

The top court directed the Chief Conservator of Forests of all states and Union Territories to prepare a list of existing structures within the ESZs and submit a report to it in three months.

“For this purpose, such authorities can take assistance from governmental agencies for satellite imaging or photography using drones,” it said.