National Green Tribunal
Anoop vs M/S Rds Project Pvt. Ltd on 27 October, 2021
Author: Adarsh Kumar Goel
Bench: Adarsh Kumar Goel
Item No. 06: BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL SOUTHERN ZONE, CHENNAI Original Application No. 75 of 2021 (SZ) & L.A. No. 52 of 2021 (SZ) (Through Vid ference) IN THE MATTER OF: Anoop, Kerala State of Kerala, For Respondent(s): Ms. K. Mokshavathy represented Mrs. Vidyalakshmi Vipin for R3 ORDER
1. As per order dated 26.02.2021, this Tribunal had admitted the matter and also appointed a joint committee to go into the question and submit a report. Thereafter, the matter was taken up on 18.06.2021 and directed the Joint Committee to submit the report after expressing displeasure with the District Administration for not taking a lead role for co-ordinating the activities of the Committee for submitting the reports early. The case was posted to 30.07.2021 for appearance of parties, completion of pleading -for consideration of reports.
Thereafter, the matter h djourned from time to time by itter was adjourned to today as per "didano REPORT OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE AS PER THE DIRECTION OF THE HONOURABLE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL IN O.A.No. 75/2024(82) IN THE MATTER OF SHRI ANOOP VS. STATE OF KERALA AND OTHERS 1.6 Background The District Geologist, Kannur had issued 3 Quarrying Permits te Shri. Sumit Goyal, Managing Director, M/s. RDS Project Limited in survey nos. 74/122,74/635 (old survey no.74/1D} of Kuttoor Village of Taliparambu Taluk (now the area comes under Payyanmur Taluk} in Kannur District to extract Granite Building Stone from an area of 0.9933 Hectare from 2018 to 2021 based on Kerala Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 2015. A Quarrying Pertut is a short term permit granted for a period not exceeding one year from an area less than or equal to one hectare. For procuring Quarrying Permit, the permit holder or Project Authority (PA}had produced the following mandatory documents before the District Geologist, Kannur:
ij Environmental Clearance (EC) vide No. 223/KNR/2017/DEIAA dated 23.02.2018 valid up to 31.01.2023 issued by District Environmental Impact Assessment Authority, Kannur District a} Consent for Operation from Kerala State Pollution Control Board vide No PCB/KNR/ICO/OC/100/2018 dated 27.02.2018 valid upto 31.01.2023issued by Environmental Engineer, Kerala State Pollution Control Board iii} Explosive Licensevide No. E/SC/KL/22/1659 (77109) dated 23.02.2018 valid up to 31.03.2023issued by Joint Chief Controller of Explosives South Circle, Chennai iv} Panchayat License vide letter No. B1-1016/20/2020-2021/288 dated 27.05.2020 valid up to 19.03.2021 issued by the secretary, Eramam-Kuttoor Gramapanchayat The last Quarrying Permit to the PA was issued by the District Geologist, Kannur, on 20.03.2020 with validity up to 19.03.2021. According to the approved mining plan the PA can extract 55000 MT of mineral per year. At present the quarry is nonfunctional.
Shri. Anoop filed O.A. No. 75/2021 before the Nonourable National Green Tribunal alleging that the 5 respondent has violated environmental clearance conditions, that they have conducted excess mining, causing loss to the exchequer and damage to the environment. The Honourable National Green Tribunal vide order dated 26.02.2021 directed to appoint a Joint Committee comprising of (1) Senior Officer from Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF & CC}, Regional Office, Bangalore, (2} Senior Officer from State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), Kerala, (3) Senior Officer from Department of Mining and geology and (4} District Collector, Kannur or Senior Officer not less than the rank of Assistant Collector as designated by the District Collector.The Department of Mining and Geology was designated as the nodal agency for coordination.
Accordingly vide proceedings order no. 120/2121-22/3753/M2/2021 dated 20.07.2021, the Director of Mining and Geology constituted a Joint Committee with the folowing members:-
1. Dr. 8S. Prabhu Scientist C, MoEF @& Cc, Regional Office, Bengaluru bo Dr. Ajayakumar Varma Member, SEIAA, Kerala
3. Shri. Jagadeesan District Geologist, Kannur
4. Smt. Anulkumari [AS Sub-Collector & Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Thalassery 2.8. Methodology The Honourable National Green Tribunal directed the Joint Committee to inspect the area in question and to submit a factual as well as action taken report, if there is any violation. The Joint Committee had to ascertain the following:
1, Whether there was any violation of the environmental clearance eonditions
2. Whether there was any excess mining
3. Assess the environmental compensation apart from the loss of royalty
4. Penalty to be imposed if there is any excess mining done than the permission granted
9. The cast required for restoration of environment The Joint Committee decided to carry out field inspection of the quarry in question on 10.08.2021 to examine whether the specific and general conditions in the environmental clearance issued to the 5% respondent heve been violated.
3.0. Field inspection Site inspection of the Granite Building Stone quarry of M fs. RDS Project (Pvi) Limited was undertaken on 10.8.2021 by the Joint Committee.Photographs of the quarry have been attached as annexure.Considering the field level status, it was examined whether there was any violation of the 23 specific conditions and 61 general conditions of the environmental clearance. The following non-
complances/ violations of Environmental Clearance conditions were observed during inspection and as per records:
Adequate green belt has not been provided around the quarry area Check dam and gully checks are not provided Garland drains are not BO Ne 4.4.
a Sprinklers are not installed at project areca oF Height and width of benches are not followed as conditions and mining plan 45° slope is not maintained at quarry area PA has carried out excess mining Stone than the permitted quantity 9, Assessment of Environmental Clearance conditions per environmental of 21170 MT of Granite Building Six monthly compliance reporis have not been submitted regularly Violations of the environmental clearance conditions is evaluated here under:
Na EC Conditions
- Compliance Status Compliance to Specific Conditions A Mines manager shall be appointed fo contro}, direct, manage and supervise the quarrying operations as required under the mines act 1942 4 Not violated Health and welfare measures for the persons shall be implemented 'Nat violated Lad t Lod Controlled blasting should be practiced and blasting shall be done only during day time. The mitigation measures for the control of ground vibration to arrest the fly rock and boulder should be implemented Not violated Plantation shall be dose which includes a green belt of adequate width around the mining lease area excluding the rocky area, along the roads, overburden dumps and non-mineralized area by planting suitable mative specious in consultation with local OFO/Agriculture department Partially violated;
No green belt or plantanon of sigrificarice observed The drains should be silted and maintained properly. Check dam and gully checks shall be constructed wherever required to arrest siltation. De siltation shall also be done every year before the onset of monsoon Violaied- Na proper drainage is laid.
Fencing must be maintained all round the lease area Not violated mal ON The CSR should cover the felt needs of the locality with special emphasize for implementing ground water recharging techniques in ad at the viemty of the proposed site Partially violated, No emphasis given for groundwater recharging in the vichuty Appropriate si gn boards should be displayed Nat violated The blasting time musi be displayed and strictly adhered to Nat violated 10 Dust suppression mechanism must be in place Not violated lassessmoent clic.
A separate small plot to be maintained in the premise to preserve rare and endemic species, if any, listed in the biodiversity Violated The PPV values must be less than 1Omm/sec. Not violated The green belt shall be provided around the periphery Partially violated Where the height of bench formed during earlior workings oxnce the maximum reach of excavator engaged for work, such bench height shall be reduced from top to bottom Partially violated Loose or hanging rock or mineral boulder on the side wall shall be dressed down before engaging persons for work at the bottorn of the bench Partially violated Permanent boundary pillars should be fixed by the proponent before commencing quarrying Not violated No Quarry blasting to be undertaken and sustained till warning time limit expires and/or when continuous 48 hours curmulative rainfall free situation arises in the quarry locality based on ihe evaluation by the revenue officials exceeds Sem and blasting shall not be resumed until 24hrs of rain| Not violated All the waste dumps and topsoil dumps shall be properly stabilized by using coir mats or bio regeneration. Proper drainage sysiem shall be provided so that water is properly diverted away from the dumps with no disturbance to the stability of the slopes Partially violated 19 AU dump slopes shall be sufficiently stabilized by using appropriate species mix of prass, creepers, shrubs and trees, This shall be done in consultation with the forest department and local research institutes and experts in stabilization of mine dumps Partially violated ipond, the clardied overflow from the slit settling ponds, shall be Garland drains of at least 2m width shall be provided all along 7.5mm buffer zone to divert the water fiom entering the quarry slopes. These drains shall be cleaned every year before the monsoon season Violated The water from garland drainage shall be directed to the silt settling directed to a rain water harvesting (RWH) pond before releasing the clarified water to natural watercourse Violated bo bo A retaining wall of stone rubble with the wire mesh of sufficient width and strength (not less than 2m) shall be constructed at the boulders during heavy rainfall bottorn of slope of the quarry lease area to arrest any likely roll off Partially violated bo Lad Drainage pit on the SE side of the quarry should be properly Partially violated maintained and opening of the same should be protected by reinforced concrete wall Compllance to General Conditions Rain water harvesting facility should be installed as per the! Violated prevailing provisions of KMBR/KPBR, unless otherwise specified. Environment monitoring cell as agreed under the affidavit fled by Partially violated. the propend should be formed and made functional Cell constituted;
but no proof shown regarding ifs functioning Suitable avenue trees should be planted along either side of the Partially violated tarred road and open parking areas, 1f any, including of approach road and intemal roads Maximum possible solar energy generation and utilization shall be! Violated ensured as an essential part of the project ua Sprinklers shall be installed and used in the project site to contain) Violated dust emissions 'Evo- restoration including the mine closure plan shall be done at the own cast of projects proponents At least 10 percent out of total excavated pit area should be retained as water storage area and rernaining area should be reclaimed with stacked dumping and overburden and planted with indigenous plant specious that are eco-fiiendly, if no other specific condition on reclamation of pit is stimulated in the EC 8 Corporate. sacial responsibility (CSRjas agreed upon by. the|Partially proponent should be implemented implemented WD The lease area shall be fenced aff with barbed wires to a minimumiNot violated height of 4ft around, before starting of mining. All the boundary indicators (Boards, stores, markings, etc) shall be protected at all times and shall be conspicuous 10 Warning alarms indicating the time of blasting (to be done attNot violated snecitic timing} has to be arranged as per the stipulations of explosive dept.
Contrel measures on noise and vibration prescribed by KSPCBINot violated should be implemented Quarrying activities should be limited to day hme as per RSPCH Not violat = puidclines/speciic condition Blasting should be done in a controlled manner as specified by the|Not violated regulations of explosives department or any other concerned agency A licensed person should supervise' control the blasting operations. Not violated Access road to Quarry shall be tarred to control dust emission that may arise during transportation of materials Partially violated Overburden materials should be managed within the site and used for reclamation of the mine pit as per roine closure plasspecific condition Not violated Height of the benches should not exceed Sm and the width should not be less than Sm, if there is no mention in the mining plan/specific conditioa Violated Mats to reduce fly rock blast to a maxirnum of 10 ppv should be provided Not violated Maximum depth of mining from general pround level at site shail not exceed 1Um Not violated No mining operations should be carried ont at places having slope greater than 45° Violated Acoustic enclosures should have been provided to reduce sound armphification in addition to the provisions of green belt and hollow brick envelop for crushers so that the noise level is kept within prescribed standards given by CPCB/KSPCB The workers on the site should be provided with the required protective equipment such as ear muffs, helmet, etc Not violated Garland drains with clarifiers to be provided in the lower slopes around the core area to channelize storm water. Violated 'The transportation of minerals should be done in Covered trucks to contra! dust emissions 'Not violated The proponent shindd plani trees atleast 5 times of the loss that has been occurred while clearing the land for the project Violated Disposal of spent ofl from diesel engines should be as specified under relevant Rules/Regalations 'Not violaied Explosives should be stored in magazines in isolated place specified, and approved by ihe Explosive Department. Nat vidlated A maxinmutn buffer distance of 160m from the boundary of the quarry to the nearest dwelling unit or other siructures, not beliig ary facility for mining shall be provided Not violated 100m buffer distance should be maintained from forest boundaries. Not violated Consent from Kerala State Pollution Control Board wader water and Air Act(s) should be obtained before initiating mining antivety Not vialated All other statutury clearances should be obtained, as applicable, by project proponenis from the respective competent authorities including that for blasting and storage of explosives Not violated tea thw In the case of any change(s) in the scope of the project, extent,/ Violated quantity, process of mining technology involved or im any wayias the buffer zone affecting the environmental parameters/impacts as assessed, basediat places are mined on which only the EC is issued, the project would require a freshjout appraisal by this authority, for which the proponent shall apply and get the approval of this authority.
low te The authority reserves the right to add additional safeguard measures subsequently, if found necessary, and to take action including revoking of the environmental clearance under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act , 1986 to ensure! effective implementation of the suggested safeguard measures in a time bound and satisfactory manner 3 34 The stipulations by the statutory authorities under different Acts and! Violated Notifications should be complied with. lao Wt The project proponent should advertise in at least two localiNot violated newspaper widely circulated in the region, one of which (both advertisement atid the newspaper) shall 'be in the vernacular language informing that project has been accorded environmental clearance and copies of clearance letters are available with the state Environment impact Assessment Authority (SELAA) office and may' also be seen on the website of the Authority at www.seiaakerala.org. 36 A copy of the clearance letter shall be sent by the proponent to/Not violated concerned Grama Panchayat/District Panchayat and also ta the local NGO, if any, from whom suggestions/representations, Wf any, were received while processing the proposal. The EC shall also be put on ihe web site of the company by the proponent. 37 The proponent shall submit half-yearly reports on the status off Violated compliance of the slpalated EC conditions including results off monitored data (both in hard copies as well as by e-mail) and upload the status of compliance of the stipulated EC conditions, including results of monitored data on their website and shall update the same penodically, It shall simultaneously be sent to the respective Regional Office of MoEF, Govt. of India and also te the SEIAA office 38 vellow letters of TIMES NEW Roman font of size not less than 40. The details of Environmental Clearance should be prominently!Not violated displayed in a metallic board of 3X3 fi with green background and Sign board with extent of lease area and boundaries shall be depicted at the entrance of the quarry, visible te public. The proponest should provide notarised affidavit that all the|Not violated conditions stipulated im the EC shall be scrupulously followed. 10
4) No change in mining technology and scope of working should be made without prior approval of SEIAA. No farther expansion or modifications in the mine shall be carried out without prior approval of the SEEAA, as applicable Not violated except the mining done on buffer zone
4) The project proponent shall ensure that no natural water course and/or water resources shall be obstructed due to any mining operations. Necessary safeguard measures to protect the first order streams, if any, originating from the mine lease shall be taken.
Not violated notification 2009,as amended from time to time by the Central Pollution Control Board, Water sprinkling should be increased at the places loading and unloading points and transfer points to reduce the fugitive emissions Monitoring of Ambient air quality to be carried out based on the Not violated "The top soil, if any, shall temporarily be stored at earmarked site(s) only for the topsoil shall be used for land reclamation and plantation. The overburden (OB) generated during the mining operations. shall -be stacked at earmarked..dump. site(s) only. The maximum height of the dumps shall not exceed 8m and width 20m and overall slope of the dumps shall be maintained to 48°. The OB dump should be scientifically vegetated with suitable native species to prevent erosion and surface run off. In critical areas, use of geo- textiles shall be undertaken for stabilization of the dump. The entire excavated area shail be backfilled. Monitoring and management of rehabilitated areas should continue until the vegetation becomes self-sustaining.
Partially violated 4A Catch drains and siltation ponds of appropriate size shall be constructed around the mine working, mineral and OB dumps to pievent run off uf waler and flow of sediments directly ito the river and other water bodies. The water so collected should be utilized for watering the mine area, roads, green belt development etc. The drains shall be regularly de-silted particularly after monsoon and manitamed properly, Partially violated 45 Effective safeguard measures such ay regular water sprinkling shall be carried out in critical areas prone to air pollution and having high levels of PM10 and PM2.5 such as haul road, loading and unloading points and transfer points -- it shall be ensured that the ambient air quality parameters conform to the norms prescribed by the CPCB in this regards Not violated 46 Fugitive dust ernission from all the sources should be controlled regularly. Water spraying arrangement on haul roads, loading and Not violated unloading and at transfer points should be provided and properly 11 maintained, the work environment Measures should be taken for control of noise levels below 85 dB in'Not violated who will report directly to the Head of the Organization A. separate environment management cell. with suitable qualifted|Parually violated Pp g q ¥ personnel should be set up under the contral of a Senior Executive, Cell constituted;
but no proof shown regarding its functioning 4g reported to the SELAA office.
hav} =} The Regional Office of the MoEF& CC located at Bangalore shall Regional Office by furnishing the data/information/monitoring reports. ve
2)
-tAny appeal against this Environmental Clearance shall lie with the 'National Green Tribunal, if preferred, within a period of 30 days as + prescribed under Section 16 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010.
ia MM Coneealing the factual data or submission of false/fabricated data and failure to comply with any of the conditions mentioned above may result. in withdrawal of this clearance and attract action under:
the provisions of Environment (Protection) Act, 1936. The SETAA may revoke or suspend the order for non- implementation of any of the specific conditions or the implementation of any of the above condition is not satisfactory. The SELAA reserve the right to alter/modity the above conditions or stipulate any further conditions in the interest of environment protection The above condition shall prevail notwithstanding anything to thel-- contrary, In consistent, or simplified, contained im any other perntit, license on consent given by any other authority for the same project This order is valid for a period of 5 years or the expiry date of mine lease period issued by the govt of Kerala whichever is earlier. The environmental Clearance will be subject to the final order of the courts in any pending litigation related to the land or project, in any court of law A The mining operation shall be restricted to above groundwater table 12 The funds earmarked for environmental protection measures and} Violated CSR activeties should be kept in separate account and should not beiNo proof coud be diverted for other pucposes. Yeurwise expenditure should belproduced Violated, monitor compliance of the stipulated conditions. The project/Periodical authorities should extend full cooperation to the officer(s) of theimonitoring report is requisitenot submitted.
Not violated Nat violated and it should not intersect ground water table. 58 |All vehicles used for transportation and within the mines shall have Not violated PUC certificate from authorized pollution testing centres. Washing of all vebicles shall be inside the lease area. 59 'Project proponent should obtain necessary prior permission of the! Violated competent authorities for drawing of requisite quantity of surface water and ground water for the project 60 'Regular monitoring of flow rates and water quality upstream and/Partially violated downstream of the springs and perennial nallahs flowing in and around the mine lease area shall be carried out and reported in the six monthly reports to SELAA 51 (Occupational health surveillance program of the workers should belPartially violated undertaken periodically to observe any contractions due to exposure , to dust and take corrective measures, if needed, Among the specific conditions stipulated for the environmental clearance, 4 are fully violated, 9 are partially violated and 10 are not violated. The violations included non-provision of proper height and width of benches, inadequacy of buffer zone, non-provision of garland drains, non-provision of scttling pond and rain water harvesting poud, uon-preservation of rare and endemic species removed from the site. Among the general conditions, 13 are violated, 9 are partially violated and 30 are not violated. Compliance of 9 conditions cannot be ascertained at present. 3.0. Environmental Compensation for violation of enviroumenial clearance conditions As per the guidelines issued by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) environmental compensation for violating the provisions of E{P] Act,1986 has been calculated as per the "Polluter Pays Principle"
Environmental Compensation Forrmuta HC=PISN&RxSxLF Where as:
HC- Environmental Conrpensation PI --Pollution Tudex of Industry Sector N--Number of days for which violation took place 13 R--A factor in Rs for EC S--Factor for scale of operation LF~Location factor The industrial sectors have been categorized into Red, Orange and Green based on their pollution index in the range of 60-106, 41-59 and 21-40 respectively. It was suggested that the average pollution index of 50, 506 and 30 may be taken may be taken for calculating the Environmental Compensation for Red, Orange and Green Categories of industries respectively.
N number of days for which violation took place is the period between the day of violation observed /due date of directions compliance and the day of compliance verified by PCB/SPCB/CPCR.
Ris a factor in Rupees, which may be minimum of 100 and maxinrum of
500. 5 is based on small /medium/large industries categorization which may be 0.5 for micro for small, 1 for medium and 1.5 for large units.
LP (Location Factor}, is based on the population of the city/town Sino. | Population (Mifion) LF ] 1 ta <5 1.25 2] 5 to <10 LS 3 10 and above 2 PA has obtained EC tram District Environmental fmpact Assessment Authority (DEIAA}, Kanmur vide fetter No 223/KNR/2017/DEIAA dated 23,02,.2018.Therefore the committee has considered period from date of the ECto date of the inspection by Jomt Committee as non-compliance 'violation period.14
Since this quarry project is in Red Category, Pl is taken as 80; and the number of days from 23.02.2018 to 10.08.2021 are 1264 days; R factor is taken as Rs.250 {Min 100 and Max 500}; S is considered as Small (0.5) and since the population of Thaliparamba Taluk is less than 5 Million, LF is taken as 1.25.
Environmental Compensation (EC)= 80x1264x250x0.5x1.25 = Rs. 1,58,00,000/-
{(Rupces One Crore Fifty-Eight Lakhs Only). 6.0. Penalty for excess mining than the permitted quantity As per the quarrying permit granted and approved mining plan, the permit holder/PAcan extract 55000 MT of Granite Building Stone from the permit area in a year. But during site inspection of the Joint Commitiee it was found that PA had extracted an excess quantity of 21170 MT of Granite Building Stone. An amount of Rs. 15,44,240/- (Rupees Fifteen lakh forty- four thousand two hundred and forty only) was realized from the PA by District Geologist, Kannur, as penalty for mining 21170 MT in excess of the permitted quantity.
7.8. Conclusion and suggestions This report prepared by the Joint Committee is based on available records and on the spot field observations made at a time when the quarry was not operational. Members of the Joint Committee from SEIAA and MoEF & CC have submitted separate reports which have been incorporated into this report.
s The Joint Committee visited the site on 10.08.2021, s The Joint committee members checked the environmental conditions and the various points raised by the Honourable National Green Tribunal. It was noticed that among the specific conditions stipulated for the environmental clearance, 4 are fully violated, 9 are partially violated and 10 are not violated. Among the general conditions, 13 are i3 15 violated, 9 are partially violated and 30 are not violated. Compliance af 9 conditions cannot be ascertained at present.
* The Department of Mining and Geology has calculated the excess mining quantity and realized an amount of Rs. 15,44,240/- (Rupees Fifteen lakh forty-four thousand two hundred and forty only) as penalty for mining 21170 MT in excess of the permitted quantity.
e Height and width of benches are not followed as per environmental conditions and mining plan « Environmental compensation amounts to Re.1,58,00,000/-(Rupees One Crore Fifty-Hight Lakhs Only) e Further mining is not advisable in the area as mining has caused environmental damage and also the mineable reserves in the quarry are nearly exhausted.
Ser =e their statements regarding the al ES x elation "o =e ed out, the learned th a | nts submitted that they will counsel appearing for te official respond come with the statements along with the action taken from their side, if some time is granted.
6. The official respondents are directed to file their statements including the action taken report to this Tribunal on or before 17.11.2021 and post the case for 22.11.2021 for consideration.16
7. The Registry is directed to communicate this order to the official respondents through e-mail immediately, so as to enable them to comply with the direction.
8. For completion of pleadings, consideration of reports and also for hearing, post on 22.11.2021.
beseseeaaeescceeeueesceceeueesees J.M. (Justice K. Ramakrishnan) 17