Taking a strong view of the State Government's declaration on rampant illegal mining, the Jharkhand High Court directed it to immediately close all the illegal mines and crushers being operative in Jharkhand.
The court, while hearing a PIl initiated suo motu, also asked the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board to give details about the No-Objection Certificates (NOC) granted by it for crushers and other mining activities along with the other particulars like date of granting and expiry for each of the NOCs.
“A division bench of Chief Justice Virender Singh and Justice PP Bhatt has strictly directed the State to get such mines and crushers operating without a required lease closed,” said advocate Indrajeet Sinha who has been appointed amicus curie for the PIl. The direction, according to him, was given in the wake of an affidavit filed by the State suggesting that the illegal mining activities were still being carried out in Jharkhand.
It was also stated in the affidavit that as many as 600 cases were lodged in a short span of one year, added Sinha.
According to Sinha, the State Government will also have to furnish all details of lease deeds given for the mining of minor minerals, number of approvals given for mining activities as well as environmental clearance and forest clearance given by it for mining purposes.
The court has also directed to file an affidavit stating what steps have been taken so far by the State in compliance with the Supreme Court order granted in the case of Deepak Kumar Vs State of Haryana.
The court, when informed by the State Government through an affidavit that a task force, headed by deputy commissioner, had been formed in 2005 in each of the districts, observed that had the task force been functional, the PIl would not had been initiated in this regard.
The PIl was initiated on April 27 taking suo-motu cognizance of the reports published in a newspaper depicting rampant illegal mining activities being carried out across the State without having any control of the authorities on it.
The report, published on April 24, claimed that 35 hills and hillocks in Gumla, lohardaga, Koderma, Sahebgunj and other parts of the State, had been wrecked to ground due to illegal mining.
It was also alleged in the report that mine operators had a nexus with officials of the district administration as well as the mining department and the percentage earned from the profits of illegal mining was being also directed towards the government officials for not raising alarm against it.