The National Green Tribunal (NGT) dismissed a Petition filed challenging the Consent to Operate (CTO) granted to the Respondent no. 6 (Private Limited) by the Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board (RSPCB) for its major mineral mine (limestone) over an extent of 1516.88 hectares comprising of 1107 hectares of revenue land and 408 hectares of forest land near village Lakheri, Bundi district, Rajasthan.
The Applicant has challenged the same on the following ground :-
i. Respondent has allowed illegal operation of mining lease without having environmental clearance and valid consent to operate.
ii. Respondent had permitted illegal operation of mining in an around RNP causing serious irreparable damage to the flora and fauna .
iii. The State PCB has adopted the policy of pick and choose in case of the industry of the respondent and granted the CTO whereas in other cases the same procedure has not been adopted.
iv. The respondent State PCB by taking a bank guarantee of Rs. 5 crore, in place of imposing the environmental compensation violated the EIA notification 2006 against the environmental rules.
The issue of illegal mining without any environmental clearance within 10 kilometers of National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary without requisite permission from competent authority/NBWL was taken up by this Tribunal on 13.03.2023 and a committee was constituted to submit the factual and action taken report. The members of the committee visited the site and submitted the report.
The Central Bench of Justice Sheo Kumar Singh and Justice Dr. A. Senthil Vel noted that vide letter dated 28.06.2022, MoEF&CC Impact Assessment Division, Government of India considered the terms of reference for the project and issued the permission and recommendation.
The matter was taken up by this Tribunal and the committee was directed to submit the report, after submission of the report the applicant filed an objection to the report with the facts that the CTO to the respondent no.6 granted without any environmental clearance and the committee has not shown the boundaries and distances of the National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuary, critical Tiger habitant and Tiger corridors in an around the mining lease of respondent no.6 which has impact of mining of flora and fauna of the area.It is further submitted by the applicant that the forest department has not mentioned issue related to NBWL clearances.
The Counsel for the project proponent has submitted that all the matters which has been raised by this application have been considered by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF & CC) and the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) in its meeting and after consideration the EC has been granted by the MoEF&CC and all the orders previously passed by the MoEF&CC and the Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board (RSPCB) is merged with the EC granted by the Competent Authority.
If anyone or the applicant is aggrieved by the EC granted by the MoEF&CC, remedy lies in filing the appeal. By means of this application the CTO granted by the RSPCB or the EC granted by the MoEF&CC cannot be challenged.
The CTO granted by the RSPCB under challenge and the methods which have been reported by the Joint Committee in separate two reports have been duly discussed by the EAC in its meeting and nothing has been found to be in violation of environmental rules.
The proposal for grant of EC was under consideration before the competent authority and the delay was due to the state policy with regard to the notification and again de-notification of the area in which the CTO granted by the RSPCB under challenge has been duly considered by the MoEF&CC while passing the final order and in light of the EC granted by the authorities in December, 2023 the original order merged with this order. Further, when the alternate remedy to file the appeal before the appellate authority under Section 31 of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and Section 28 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, the present OA is not applicable in light of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board vs Sterlite Industries (2019) 19 SCC 479.
On the basis of the record submitted by the parties concerned and the joint committee report and the report submitted by the forest department, the mining was conducted within the permissible limits and the lease allotted in the favor of the project proponent and no mining was done or found to be carried out within the forest zone.
In view of the EAC recommendation dated 18.10.2013 and EC dated 29.12.2023 granted by the MoEF&CC in favor of the project proponent, present application is not maintainable. If the applicant is aggrieved by the EC, dated 29.12.2023, alternate remedy to file the appeal is available , the Bench noted.