Rat-hole coal mining: HC asks Meghalaya to implement SC, NGT rulings in 4 weeks

‘It is a matter of regret that orders passed by SC and NGT continue to be violated and the directions issued are not implemented,’ the Meghalaya high court said.

GUWAHATI: The Meghalaya high court has directed the state government to implement recommendations of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and Supreme Court (SC) on illegal rat-hole coal mining within four weeks.

Rat-hole mining involves digging narrow vertical tunnels to extract coal, posing threat to workers. In 2018, 15 workers died in one such mine in Meghalaya. (HT File Photo)

One of the SC directions was allowing the sale of coal, which had already been extracted from mines, prior to a prohibition on rat-hole mining of coal in Meghalaya by NGT in 2014. It was later found that this direction was used as a loophole by many to extract fresh coal and say it was mined prior to the NGT order of 2014.

In an order passed on May 24, a high court bench comprising chief justice Sanjib Banerjee and justices HS Thangkhiew and W Diengdoh noted that “none of the directions issued by the Hon’ble Supreme Court...and the NGT have been complied with by the concerned authorities”.

The court’s order came after the submission of a preliminary report by justice BP Katakey (retd.), which detected non-compliance with the NGT and SC orders on the issue. The high court, which had taken suo motu cognizance of the matter following a newspaper report, had appointed justice Katakey in April this year to inquire into the issue and give recommendations.

The authorities mentioned in justice Katakey’s report for non-compliance with NGT and SC directions were Meghalaya government, state and central pollution control boards, North Eastern Space Application Centre and the regional office of the union ministry for environment, forest and climate change.

“It is a matter of regret that orders passed by SC and NGT continue to be violated and the directions issued are not implemented...all relevant authorities should get their acts in order and ensure complete implementation of the directions within four weeks from date,” the high court order said.

The court held that justice Katakey will continue to monitor the implementation of the recommendations. It also directed that copies of justice Katakey’s report should be sent to the Centre and Meghalaya government for responses on compliance with the directions. The matter will be heard again on June 21.

Rat-hole mining is a dangerous technique involving digging narrow vertical tunnels into the earth to extract coal. Since most of these tunnels are dug without following guidelines, they pose threat to workers. In December 2018, 15 workers died in one such mine in Meghalaya after they were trapped.

In 2019, justice Katakey, who headed a committee by NGT on the issue, had submitted several recommendations regulating rat-hole coal mining in Meghalaya. The recommendations formed the basis of directions on the issue by SC in July, 2019.