National Green Tribunal
Santosh Mittal vs State Of Rajasthan Through Its Chief ... on 24 November, 2014
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL, CENTRAL ZONAL BENCH,
BHOPAL
Original Application No. 127/2013 (THC) (CZ)
Santosh Mittal & Ors Vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors.
CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DALIP SINGH, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE MR. P.S.RAO, EXPERT MEMBER
PRESENT :
Applicant : : None appeared
Respondent No. 1 to 8 : Shri Sachin Verma, Advocate
RSPCB : Shri Rohit Sharma,Advocate
Shri S.P. Sharma, Mining
Date and Orders of the Tribunal
Remarks
Item No. 3&4 Shri Sachin K.Verma, Counsel for the State of Rajasthan
24th November, as well as the Counsel for the Respondent No. 8 have submitted
2014
compliance report alongwith the documents pertaining to the Joint Forest Management Committees and their working in various forest blocks of Alwar District. One of the issues highlighted was that in villages where such Joint Forest Management Committees have been constituted apart from other benefits, the illegal mining activity has been considerably reduced. In the villages where the locals were not permitted or allowed the formation of the committees, the same is either at the behest of persons indulging in illegal mining or at the behest of the persons benefited out of the same.
This application raises the issue with regard to illegal mining in the areas of Alwar District and those border areas of Rajasthan bordering the State of Haryana. With a view to deal with the issue, we had directed the Chief Secretary, Rajasthan to approach his counterpart in Haryana for taking effective steps for preventing illegal mining as it was felt that most of the illegally mined material from the Aravali hill ranges in Alwar District is being transported to Haryana and to the NCR where there is a big market available and there is a demand for the material.
Pursuant to our order, the Chief Secretary, Haryana sent a reply letter dated 19.05.2014 to the Chief Secretary, Government of Rajasthan wherein the concerns raised by the Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan based upon our observation in our order dated 01.05.2014 were agreed to. In the letter of the Chief Secretary, to the Govt. of Haryana, under Para 2.5 dealing with the issues of stone crushers, it has been stated as follows :
i. We recognise that a Stone Crusher is invariably the first point of receipt of raw mineral, where it is processed before the material reaches the consumer market. Thus the Stone crushers constitute an important intermediary associated in the chain / process of stone mining.
ii. You may appreciate that any vehicle not having valid documents to show that material laden in the vehicle is obtained from a legal source cannot afford to travel for long distance. Therefore, vehicles carrying illegal mined material from any area operating in the Rajasthan, would, in the first instance be supplying the same to the crushers operating on the Rajasthan side. The illegal operators may come to Haryana side crushers only in case they are not above to off-load the mineral at the stone crusher on the Rajsthan side. It is not clear to us to if the State of Rajasthan has taken any steps to close down its crusher operating in the Districts of Alwar and Bharatpur. iii. In Haryana side, we have stone crushers operating from the Mewat District as well as in the Pali-Mohabatbad Stone Crushing Zone established. In Faridabad district under the directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the year 1994. Obviously, these stone crushers are carrying on their operations with the stone mineral imported / transported from the state of Rajasthan as the mining operations are lying closed on the Haryana side under the directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court.
iv. Keeping in view that a stone crusher becomes the first recipient of any raw stone mineral and the fact that mining has been lying closed in Haryana, the Mines & Geology Department of Haryana examined the various options. In a matter relating to illegal mining, appreciating the steps taken by the State of Haryana in this behalf, the CEC suggested vide its report dated 30.03.2012 submitted before the Hon'ble Supreme Court that establishment of new crushers be prohibited including the crushers for which applications were under consideration in the districts of Gurgaon and Mewat.
v. The suggestion was examined and it was decided by the State of Haryana vide its order dtd. 21.04.2012 (copy enclosed) that no fresh licences shall be granted for establishment of stone crushers till the matter relating to mining in the state are resolved. However, the above said order were challenged by one of the applicants for establishing a new stone crusher before the Hon'ble Punjab 7 Haryana High Court. The Hon'ble High Court quashed the orders 21.04.2012 with motives ascribed to the State of Haryana and directed to decide the applications for grant of licence on its merit. The relevant extract of the orders dtd. 31.07.2013 of the Hon'ble High Court are reproduced as under :
".. It appears that said order has been issued with mala-fide intention to given benefit to the existing crushing units so that they can charge the rate of material the way they like. The action taken is totally discriminatory. It violates the provisions of Articles 14 and 19of the Constitution of India".
Similarly situated persons have been dealt with separately. At the time of hearing, no justification was given to issue order dtd. 21.04.2012 stopping grant of new licences to set up crushing units except that it will increase illegal mining. The State is not helpless and if any unit is indulging in illegal activities, action can be taken and the licences can be cancelled. Instead of doing that exercise, a short cut method has been adopted to stop progress of the industry in the State.
In view of the facts mentioned above, the writ petition is allowed. Order of the Government dtd. 21.04.2012 stands quashed. Directions are issued to respondent No. 2 to look into application filed by the petitioners. If it meets the parameters, licence to set up a fresh stone crushing unit be granted forthwith. Respondent No. 2 shall get report from DLCC etc., if it is needed. Needful shall be done in six weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order."
vi. You would appreciate that it hurts and highly de-motivating when motives are imputed qua a decision taken in the larger public interest. In view of above background, I would like to assure you that the State of Haryana on its part is already taking action to control the movement of illegally mined mineral from the State of Rajasthan towards Haryana side crushers/consumers. Any proposal to stop illegal mining activity on the Rajasthan side by closing of stone crushers, should first look at closure of the stone crushers of Rajasthan state itself. As already explained above, it is not legally feasible to close down the stone crusher legally operating in the state of Haryana. The proposal would also invite allegations of mala-fide stating that same is being done to given un-due benefit to crushers and illegal miners operating in the State of Rajasthan. We have been informed that unlike many other State Pollution Control Boards in the country which are required to grant consent to establish and consent to operate the stone crushers under the Air Act and other related environmental laws, in the State of Haryana, the SPCB is not insisting the project proponent who is applying for grant of consent to establish a stone crusher, to disclose the source from where the raw material for the stone crusher shall be procured. This assumes importance from what has been indicated by the Chief Secretary of Haryana in the above quoted letter that "Obviously these stone crushers are carrying on their operations with the stone mineral imported / transported from the State of Rajasthan as the mining operations are lying closed on the Haryana side under the directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court." The Chief Secretary further stated that "Keeping in view that a stone crusher becomes the first recipient of any raw stone mineral and the fact that stone mining has been lying closed in Haryana."
We are of the view that the Haryana State PCB while granting the consent for establishment and operation of the stone crushers in Haryana state by not insisting and not making it mandatory to the project proponent to furnish information regarding the source of the raw material to be used, may be abating the illegal mining activity which has otherwise been banned in the Aravali Region particularly in the State of Haryana as well as in the District of Alwar in Rajasthan.
We would accordingly direct issuance of notice to the Haryana State Pollution Control Board through its Member Secretary to show cause why a uniform policy in accordance with the policy in existence in several other States like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh where such consent for establishment and operation of Stone Crushers is based upon the disclosure of source of raw material from the mines from which it is brought, be not made mandatory in the State of Haryana as well particularly since the Chief Secretary of Haryana himself has admitted that "vehicles carrying illegally mined material from any area operating in Rajasthan would in the first instance be supplying the same to the crushers operating on the Rajasthan side. The illegal operators may come to Haryana side crushers only in case they may not be able to offload the material in the crushers at the Rajasthan side."
While the State of Rajasthan has in the recent past taken effective steps for stopping the illegal mining activity including establishment of check posts, chowkis, intensifying patrolling, etc. the same could become redundant if the receiver of stolen property allows the stone crushers to carry on their business and thrive without being checked or asked to disclose the source of their raw material. The replies of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board is sought on the aforesaid issue keeping in view the mandate of Article 48(A) of the Constitution of India as well as the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and of other enabling laws in that behalf.
The Registrar, Central Zonal Bench, National Green Tribuna, Bhopal shall serve a copy of this order alongwith a copy of the letter of the Chief Secretary, Haryana dated 19..05.2014 filed before this Tribunal to the Member Secretary, Haryana State Pollution Control Board alongwith the notice.
List on 12th January, 2015.
........................................,JM (DALIP SINGH) .........................................,EM (P.S.RAO)