New Delhi: The Supreme Court, Monday, issued notice to the Union government, Odisha and other states in a public interest litigation (PIL) filed against mining in densely forested and eco-sensitive zones of the country.
A three-judge bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde also issued notice to Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal in the PIL filed by activist Sudeip Shrivastava.
The petitioner contended that the Centre has auctioned several coal blocks situated in densely forested areas while many blocks situated in less forested areas are lying in abundance.
The petitioner pleaded the court to quash auction of 14 coal blocks situated in dense forests which were classified as ‘NOGO’ by a joint study of Ministry of Environment and Forests and Ministry of Coal.
The petitioner also submitted that in 10 coal blocks of Odisha listed for auction, only one block Phuljhari East and West had been classified as ‘NOGO’ area. He alleged that Odisha has not red-flagged this auction yet as most of its ‘NOGO’ blocks have not been included.
The petitioner further sought framing of guidelines to deal with forest clearance proposals for coal mining in densely forested areas. He said such clearance could be considered unless all the other available deposits of the said mineral were exhausted.
He sought a direction to the Union government to classify each mineral deposit in terms of their environmental forest value and allow mining only in those mineral deposits where the damage to environment would be the least.
