National Green Tribunal
D Hema Kumar vs Ministry Of Environment Forest And ... on 22 July, 2021
Bench: K Ramakrishnan, K. Satyagopal
Item No.O1:
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
SOUTHERN ZONE, CHENNAI
Original Application No. 152 of 2021 (SZ)
(Through Video Conference)
IN THE MATTER OF
D. Hema Kmar,
Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh
...Applicant(s)
om,
aS
1. The grievance in this application is that the respondents 7 & 8 have
involved in illegal sand mining on the river banks of "River Aaraniaar" which runs through the Villages, namely, Karani, Suruttappalli, SSB Petta, BK Bedu, Nagalapuram and other nearby villages, and then enters in State of Tamil Nadu. The total stretch of the river is about 11Kms and the main occupation of the villagers is Agricultural and they are depending on the water from this river. In the guise of "de-silting and dredging" the authorities are permitting for illegal sand mining of huge quantity which affects the riverine environment.
. It is also alleged in the ap at such illegal sand mining is going on and being done kb dents 7 and 8 with the active . & ce : . ' S connivang e-of the responde 4 Suruttupalli Further they are taking shelter 'un ler the proceedings of the District Collector in F. No. 2940/SAND/2019, dated 08.07.2019 wherein it was mentioned that "there is shortfall of the sand demand-supply in the State" and they are giving permission for "excavation of sand" in this area."
4. Further, there is already a case pending before this Tribunal as O.A. No. 87 of 2020 (SZ) in respect of Survey No's 161 and 162 of same river bed in Karani Village. There the committee appointed, submitted a report stating that the project proponent in that case did not obtain any Environmental Clearance (EC), or Consent to Establish or Consent to Operate as r the environmental laws.
5. They have also alleged that the respondents are against the dictum laid down by the ex Court in Deepak Kumar Vs. State of flaaina (2012 (4)* ") utNorities are. not RX ey ; Men a aiapuram to from' ra ui 350 Ha, running "RRR Me, . Lange aN S about 11 Km in Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, without the necessary Environmental Clearafice fom the 1° Respondent;
ID To direct the Respondent, Authorities to initiate criminal prosecution against the officials of the 2", 6", 7" and 8" Respondents for the illegal sand quarrying activity at the impugned site;
IID To direct the Respondent Authorities to remediate the impugned area;
6. When the matter came up for hearing for admission today through Video Conference, Mr. Kamalesh Kannan represented the applicant. Mrs. Maduri Donti Reddy represented respondents 2 to 6.
7. The learned counsel appearing for the applicant submitted that the committee appointed by this Tribunal in O.A. No. 87 of 2020 may be directed to conduct the inspect y, so as to identify the present status in this case as well. On the ¢ the learned counsel appearing for the State Department submit of 2020, no mai acivicy is go permitted fo he t documents SY conditions imp silting or dregs " AIRS Further exemptio A ing the environmental clearance under Schedule IX of EIA Notifi ication, 2006 as amended in 2016 dated 15.01.2016 2016 for certain purposes only which does not include unscientific dredging which can be lead to sand mining by avoiding environmental clearance. Further in several cases of this nature, this Tribunal had directed the authorities to follow the procedure to be followed even for doing dredging indicated and the nature of studies to be conducted and the quantification of de-silting materials and how much extent can be permitted to be extracted and even if so, what is the methodology to be used for the purpose of doing de-silting as well. The Central Government also came with certain guidelines in this regard which the State Governments are also expected : guidelines issued taking into account the principles of Sustain opment and also the application of Public Trust Poctring to protec;
S lication, wé arise =. that . el. Bie for the filing proper affidavit as per rules.
12.The applicant is also directed to produce necessary requisites along with postal cover and the necessary postal stamps before this Tribunal within a week, to send notice to all the respondents through Tribunal, to ensure service on them, so as to enable this Tribunal to proceed against them, if they did not appear in their absence in accordance with law.
13.In the meantime we are not appointing any fresh committee for the purpose of ascertaining the things in this matter. However, we direct the same committee appointed in O.A. No. 87 of 2020, namely, 1) a Senior Officer from Ministry of Environment, : 'limate Change (MoEF & CC), Regional Office, Chennai, or if an ted Officer from Regional Office available in Andhra Pradesh, 2);
Impact bg entist from State Environment 3 fa and whether, :
ee 'a quantity of sand where the sand collected from these areas are being transported and dispersed for use in the unavoidable alleged Government projects as per the Notification said to have been issued by the State of Andhra Pradesh based on which the District Collectors are issuing permission. The quantity of such sand used for such unavoidable public purposes is to be compared with the quantity of sand that has been mined and the actual use for this purpose so as to ascertain as to whether only so much sand is being taken from that area for the required purposes.
14.The committee is also directed to collect the data's' regarding the number of such woks that have been s -allotment of sand for these purposes. If there is any viola the committee is directed to ascertain the violation and assess mining or una mental compensation if excess responsi Sk ethat also can be given to form part of the report of the committee.
15.The committee is also directed to compare the satellite images of those areas for the past one or two months or even the earlier period which they feel necessary for the purpose of comparison, so as to ascertain as to what was the stage before granting permission and after granting permission.
16.The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate change (MoEF & CC), Regional Office, Chennai or a designated Office at Andhra Pradesh if any, will be the nodal agency for co-ordination and for providing necessary logistics for this purpose.
17.Considering the nature of importa so the urgency, the committee is directed to inspect the area and if we are to enable to c .
complete the fifa r pon they are lirected to ne > an a fagerim report before ig : We the form of searchable PDF/OCR Support PDF and not in the form of Image PDF along with necessary hard copies to be produced as per rules.
20.The counsel appearing for the applicant wanted an interim order directing the project proponent not to proceed with the alleged activities where they did not obtain environment clearance. We are not inclined to grant any interim order at this stage as without knowing the real state of affairs going on there it is not proper grant any injunction without hearing the persons against whom such orders will have to be passed as well.
21.The Registry is directed to communicate this order to the members of the committee and also to the offie ts along with the copy of the application immediately through as to enable them to comply with the direction.
22. For appearan , i report, post on 2 .
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