National Green Tribunal
Ashish Pal And Ors vs State Of Jharkhand on 27 November, 2024
Item No. 10 Court No. 2
BEFORE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
PRINCIPAL BENCH, NEW DELHI
Original Application No. 941/2024
Ashish Pal and Ors Applicant
Versus
State of Jharkhand Respondents
Date of hearing: 27.11.2024
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUDHIR AGARWAL JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE DR. AFROZ AHMAD, EXPERT MEMBER
Applicant: Applicant in Person (through VC)
Respondents: Mr. Dev Aryan, Advocate for JSPCB (through VC)
Mr. Saurabh Balwani, Advocate for CPCB (through VC)
ORDER
1. This Original Application has been registered under Section 14 and 15 of National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 (hereinafter referred to as 'NGT Act, 2010') in exercise of suo-moto jurisdiction in view of law laid down by Supreme Court in "Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai vs. Ankita Sinha & Ors." reported in 2021 SCC Online SC 897, on a letter petition dated 15.11.2023, sent by Ashish Pal and others, which says that a complaint on 18.12.2018 sent to Prime Minster of India but they have not received any response.
2. Complainant has said that Central Coalfield Limited is carrying out river mining in the area of river Damodar near the village of applicant i.e. Gram Panchayat Pichri Dakshin, Block Peterwar, Bokaro, State of Jharkhand and lacs of tonnes of coal has been excavated illegally on a Gair Majrua land, Khata No. 237, Plot No. 2099, adjacent to river which is recorded as Jangle Jhadi in Survey Khatiyan. Thousands of trees of Sakhua, Mango, Babul, Piper, Kadam, Arjun, Kend and Mahua have been 1 cut. The waste such as stone, muck, overburden as a result of illegal mining are being dumped in river water changing the flow and damaging environment. River Damodar is lifeline of villages in the area and water is source for agriculture and drinking but due to damage caused to the same by the Management of Central Coalfield Limited, the entire ecology is being affected adversely, besides, causing health hazards to local inhabitants.
3. Tribunal considered the matter on 06.09.2024 and found it appropriate to obtain a factual report by constituting a Joint Committee comprising Integrated Regional Office, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Ranchi; Central Pollution Control Board (hereinafter referred to as 'CPCB'); Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (hereinafter referred to as 'JSPCB'); and District Magistrate, Bokaro. CPCB was made nodal authority for coordination and compliance.
4. The Committee was initially granted a month's time to file its report which was extended vide order dated 23.11.2024 by another month.
5. Pursuant thereto Joint Committee through CPCB has submitted report dated 22.11.2024 vide Email dated 25.11.2024. The report gives certain background facts, earlier order passed by Tribunal and also the observations and recommendations in the light of the direction given by this Tribunal vide order dated 06.09.2024 and the same are reproduced as under:
"3 . B a c k g r o u n d The Committee observed that the complaint is six years old and the alleged mining area has historical background. In 1956, the Government of India incepted the National Coal Development Corporation Limited (NCDC). From the inception, NCDC has been entrusted to increase of coal production and to develop new collieries by introducing modern and scientific techniques. In the Second Five Year Plan (1956-1961), NCDC was entrusted to increase coal production from new collieries to be opened mainly in areas away from the already developed Raniganj and Jharia 2 coalfields. Thus, eight new collieries were opened and the coal production was increased to 8.05 million tonnes. The coal production was increased to 15.55 million tonnes by the end of 1973-74 with the gradual rise for the demand by the newly commissioned thermal power plants and other coal-based industries. During this era, the privately owned coalmines have carried out the major coal mining activities. The alleged Plot No.2099 as shown in the survey map was also a part of the privately owned coal mines (Annexure I).
During Fourth Plan Period (1969-74), the Government of India nationalized erstwhile privately owned coalmines in two phases. In the first phase, the management of coking coalmines was taken over by the Government of India on 17 th October 1971. Nationalization was effective from 5 th January 1972. During the second phase of nationalization on 31' January 1973, the non- coking coal mines excluding the captive coal mines of two steel plants (TISCO and IISCO) were taken over by the Government of India. Subsequently, these mines were nationalized with effect from 1st May 1973. The Government of India with the headquarters at Calcutta (now Kolkata) to restructure the coal industry and to manage and develop NCDC collieries and other newly nationalized units incepted Coal Mines Authority Limited (CMAL). On 1St November 1975, CMAL was renamed as Coal India Limited (CIL). Further, the Central Division of CMAL was later renamed as Central Coalfields Limited with the status of a subsidiary of CIL In 1983, M/s CCL has started its mining activities in the District Bokaro and continued till 2003 and then stopped. However, M/s CCL obtained environment clearance from MoEF&CC vide its letter dated 23/08/2015 and it was valid for 3 years. M/s CCL obtainedthe Consent to Operate from the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) to restart the mining activities in 2018. As per the six-monthly compliance reports received in the Regional Office, Ranchi of MoEF&CC, it is evident that M/s CCL has not restarted its miningactivities and same was confirmed by M/s CCL. Details of environment clearance (EC), the consent to establish (CTE) and the consent to operate (CTO) are stated as under:
(a) M/s CCL obtained EC from MoEF&CC vide its letter dated 13/10/2015 and it was valid for 3 years.
(b) M/s CCL obtained CTE from JSPCB vide its letter dated 3/02/2018.
(c) M/s CCL obtained CTO from JSPCB vide its letter dated 23/08/2018.
(d) M/s CCL obtained renewal of CTO from JSPCB vide its letter dated 30/09/2020.
The above documents (EC, CTE and CTO) are provided as Annexure II.
4. Other Hon'ble NGT Orders and actions taken by the State Government of Jharkhand 3 The Hon'ble NGT (PB) in OA NO.164 of 2019 in the matter of Residents of Pichhari Panchayat Vs State of Jharkhand, the applicant and others alleged that "there is encroachment and pollution of Damodar River by Management of C.C.L. at District Bokaro, Jharkhand. Further they also alleged that illegal mining is taking place and several trees have been cut. This has resulted in diversion of the river."
The Hon'ble NGT vide its order dated 15.04.2019 directed that "Let the District Magistrate, Bokaro and the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) look into the matter, take appropriate action in accordance with law and furnish a factual and action taken report in the matter within two months."
In compliance to the said Hon'ble NGT orders, on 29.07.2019 the District Magistrate of Bokaro and the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board submitted report. Following were the observations and recommendations of the report (Annexure III):
(1) It was observed that the Mines and OB dump area is situated nearby the CCL pump house which is by the side of River at Pichri.
(2) After operation the OB dump has been placed near the old dump only which is by the side of river.
(3) The length of old OB Dump along river is approx. 500 mts. and has encroached the river bed approx. 25 -30 mts.
(4) Due to the aforementioned OB dump, there is possibility of scouring in the opposite bank of the river because as per the Revenue map the river bends near the dumping area only.
The Hon'ble NGT vide its order dated 21.11.2019 directed the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board to submit the action taken report on the violations committed by M/s CCL. Accordingly, on 28.01.2020, the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board submitted its action taken report. As per NGT order dated 23.9.2020 in OA 164/2019 (Annexure IV), the observations and recommendations of the report are as follows:
(1) As per inspection report, the management of Central Coalfields Limited informed that the Over Burden dumping (O.B. dumping) had been done in the riverbed by Sri Ram Singh & Company before nationalization of coal in 1972-
73. The OB dump has been stabilized and vegetation in ample amount has developed. The satellite image of 1972- 73 and beyond is not available with Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board and Jharkhand Space Application Centre. The earliest images that are available are of 2006 which indicates the presence of this dump.
(2) The M/s Pichri Open Cast Project, Central Coalfields Limited, Pichri, Bokaro was directed to submit an interim environmental compensation of INR 1,00,00,000/-(Rupees One Crore Only/) but the Unit has asked for 45 days more 4 time to submit the environmental compensation. The JSPCB has further given 15 days' time to submit the environmental compensation.
(3) The open cast mines is not in operation since 2003, so no new O.B. dumping is taking place."
In that matter the Hon'ble NGT vide its order dated 10.02.2021 mentioned that (Annexure V) "The issue for consideration is violation of environmental norms by Central Coalfields Limited by Over Burden dumping on the riverbed.
The matter has been considered earlier and finding the situation to be unsatisfactory, further compliance report was required to be filed vide last order dated 23.09.2020. According to the report filed by the State PCB on 08.01.2021, remedial action has been taken.
In view of the above, no further order is necessary at this stage, in absence of any grievance being canvassed by the applicant.
The application is disposed of'
5. Observations of the Joint Committee In compliance to the Hon'ble NGT orders in OA No.941/2024/PB, the Committee inspected the alleged site to assess the impact of mining activities and OB dump. The Committee also interacted with the applicant who was present at the site with the local villagers. The applicant informed the Committee about the location and Plot no.2099 where the illegal mining was carried out by M/s CCL. The applicant also informed that the allegations pertain to mining activities in 1970s and expressed his concerns about the environment. The allegations and point-wise observations are tabulated as below:
Allegations in Hon'ble NGT order Observations by the Joint Committee Illegal coal mining by M/s CCL The Committee visited the alleged mine area and observed that no mining activities are being carried out as evident from the photographs taken during the site visit. The allegations of the applicant pertain to the mining activities of M/s CCL from 1983 to 2003 The Committee visited the The Committee found that the alleged mine area and observed ecology has been preserved with that no mining activities are large trees present on the OB being carried out as evident from dumpsite. No visible signs of the photographs taken during recent ecological disturbance or 5 the site visit. The allegations oftree felling have been observed. the applicant pertain to the The applicant clarified that mining activities of M/s CCL ecological disturbances occurred from 1983 to 2003 during the active mining period from 1983 to 2003.
The river course of Damodar The Committee examined the River has changed due to mining historical maps, analyzed in the activities. time series and observed that there is no change in the course of river course as evident from the maps (Annexure VI).
Illegal coal excavated on Plot M/s CCL excavated coal in the no.2099 adjacent to river stretch past after obtaining EC from and dumping of OB in the MoEF&CC and CTE/CTO from Damodar River.
JSPCB. However, due to OB dumped on riverbed, a case OA No. 164 of 19 was filed in Hon'ble NGT (PB). On 28.01.2020, the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board submitted its action taken report wherein clearly mentioned the scenario of mining activities and also imposed Rs.1.0 Crore as an Environmental Compensation for the dumping of OB on the riverbed and for destruction of ecology.
This CTO was revoked by JSPCB in 2021, as the Unit did not submit the Environmental Compensation, and therefore it was directed to close the unit with immediate effect until submission of Environmental Compensation (Annexure IX).
Verification of land use and legal The applicant alleged and status submitted the various documents relating to the right and title of the plots, which does not fall within the purview of the Joint inspection committee (Annexure VII). The concerned officials of M/s CCL submitted the gazette notification number S.O. 1469 dated 10th October, 2018 for various plots of land, including plot no. 2099, which have been acquired under the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act, 1957.6
Contamination of the Damodar The Committee collected water River. samples from the Damodar River at locations upstream and downstream of the alleged Plot No. 2099.
Analysis results indicate that the river's water quality meets the 'Primary Water Quality Criteria for Bathing Water' (MoEF Notification 2000). Furthermore, all heavy metal parameters in both surface water samples comply with BIS Drinking Water Specification (IS 10500:2012), except for iron (measured as 0.647 mg/L, exceeding the limit of 0.3 mg/L). Analysis Report is attached as Annexure VIII.
Lowering of groundwater level in No mining activities have been the village due to mining activity. carried out since 2003. The mining was carried out in the past as per the approved mine plan. The applicant and villagers requested M/s CCL to provide drinking water under CSR Activities as the water quality of River Damodar is not fit for drinking without treatment.
6. Recommendations of the Joint Committee i. Overburden (OB) dumped on the riverbed during active mining operations by M/s. CCL before 2003. Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board imposed Rs.1 crore on M/s CCL for the environmental compensation. M/s CCL may be directed to pay the pending Environmental Compensation as previously directed by JSPCB and acknowledged by the Hon'ble NGT vide its order dated 23.9.2023 in OA 164/2019 for the environmental impacts of the past mining activities ii. Time series mapping from 1985 to 2022 revealed that no change in the course of the Damodar River. The survey map provided by M/s CCL confirms that the OB dumped on riverbed has been stabilized with the dense plantation activities. M/s CCL should ensure that the dumpsite remain stabilized and monitor periodically to prevent future environmental impacts.
iii. M/s CCL should provide safe drinking water to the local villagers, either by providing water treatment facilities or alternative water supply under CSR activities. iv. The Committee could not verify allegations of tree cutting prior to 2003 due to unavailability of high-resolution time series maps. M/s CCL should initiate afforestation activities in 7 nearby areas as an additional green belt to increase regional green cover."
6. Dumping of overburden on the river side has been found on the part of M/s CCL but on this aspect, JSPCB has already imposed environmental compensation of Rs. 1 Crore and in case the amount is not paid it is always open to the JSPCB to take step for recovery from the proponent.
7. In respect to other aspects, since no substantial violation has been found by the Joint Committee, we find no reason but to accept the report and direct the authorities concerned to take steps for implementation of the recommendations made by the Joint Committee.
8. With the above directions and observations, this application is disposed of.
Sudhir Agarwal, JM Dr. Afroz Ahmad, EM November 27, 2024 O.A. No. 941/2024 HB 8