No mining activity will be permissible within one-kilometre radius of a critical tiger habitat (CTH), the Supreme Court said on Wednesday as it halted all mining activities being undertaken around the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan.
A bench headed by justice BR Gavai also asked the Rajasthan government to formulate a closure plan or take necessary steps for compliance with its orders and listed the matter for further hearing in July.
“We hold that any mining activity within 1 kilometre from a critical tiger habitat (CTH) will be violation of our April 26, 2023 order,” the bench also comprising justices SVN Bhatti and Sandeep Mehta said. “We direct Rajasthan to forthwith prohibit mining activities from one kilometre of CTH (tiger reserve) at Sariska.”
The top court was hearing an application, moved in the TN Godavarman case pending before the forest bench since 1995, seeking to stop mining activities within one-km radius of Sariska tiger reserve located in Alwar district.
The court was informed that 110 mines were operating within the area in violation of its April 26, 2023 decision that prohibited mining within one km from the boundaries of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.
{{/usCountry}}The court was informed that 110 mines were operating within the area in violation of its April 26, 2023 decision that prohibited mining within one km from the boundaries of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.
{{/usCountry}}The Rajasthan government told the court that the prohibition on mining, as ordered in April last year, was applicable to the eco-sensitive zone (of 1 km) from national parks and wildlife sanctuaries and it did not apply to tiger reserves.
Additional solicitor general (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for Rajasthan, said the CTH serves as a buffer zone for the protection of Sariska wildlife sanctuary. She also pointed out that of the 110 mines, only 60 were operating within the 1-km radius.
The bench, however, said the stand taken by the state was “contrary” to law.
“Section 38XA of Wildlife Protection Act as interpreted by this court (in the recent judgment prohibiting tiger safari in Jim Corbett Park in Uttarakhand) will show that tiger reserve stands on a higher pedestal than wildlife sanctuaries and national parks,” the bench remarked. “The interpretation by state is without reason. Our order of April 26, 2023 that prohibited mining activities within 1 km of protected area would not just mean sanctuaries and national parks, but CTH as well.”
The court found that some of the mines in Sariska were situated as close as 50 metres, 400 metres and 600 metres of the reserve’s boundary.
“Don’t do anything in the 1-km radius or if you wish to continue, then we will extend our order to 10-km radius, as fixed by our earlier order passed in June 2022,” the bench warned the Rajasthan government.
Advocate K Parameshwar, assisting the court as amicus curiae in forest matters, submitted that tiger habitat cannot be treated as buffer zone. He pointed out that Sariska was declared as a tiger reserve under Project Tiger in 1978. In 2007, the Rajasthan government notified 881.11 sq km area as CTH and by a subsequent notification of 2012, it declared 332 sq km area as buffer zone of Sariska tiger reserve. Of the total CTH, a total of 53.5 sq km is used for tourism purposes, the advocate said, adding that permitting mining activity near this zone will be detrimental to the tiger reserve ecosystem.
Bhati informed the court that no mining is taking place within the CTR and the ones existing in the area around it were small mines. The court remarked, “Rajasthan is a state rich in minerals and the need of people will never be fulfilled. If there are mines within 1 km, they must go.”
The judgment of April 2023, which also had justice Gavai, had modified the earlier order of June 3, 2022 and said, “We direct that mining within the national park and wildlife sanctuary and within an area of one kilometre from the boundary of such national park and wildlife sanctuary shall not be permissible.”
The Centre and some states had sought modification of the June 2022 decision as it prohibited mining and other specified non-forest activities within 10 km from the boundary of protected areas.