Supreme Court to vet all new mining leases in Aravallis
The court clarified that its order will not prohibit the existing valid mining leases operating in the states
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed against the renewal of mining leases and the issuance of fresh ones in the Aravallis across Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat without its permission. The top court also formed a committee headed by the Union environment secretary and asked it to come up with a common definition of what constitutes the Aravallis within the next two months.
The court clarified that its order will not prohibit the existing valid mining leases operating in the states. The states of Haryana and Rajasthan were already on the radar of the court for alleged illegal mining after a Forest Survey of India (FSI) report of 2018 showed vast deterioration of the Aravalli hills.
“We direct that until further orders, though all states where Aravalli range is situated, will be at liberty to consider the processing of applications, no permission for operation will be granted without our approval,” the order by a bench of justices BR Gavai and AS Oka said.
The eight-member committee will also comprise the forest department secretaries of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Additionally, representatives of the Geological Survey of India (GSI), FSI and Central Empowered Committee (CEC), which is assisting the court on forest issues, were also directed to be part of this exercise.
On a query by the state whether the order will affect sand mining leases, the bench said: “Our order is restricted to mining in Aravalli hills and range.”
The order came while hearing the matter of illegal mining in Aravalli in the MC Mehta case. As the illegal mining carried out in Rajasthan and Haryana was being dealt with the different benches, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) constituted a special bench to ensure there was a uniform approach to the entire Aravali range.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta appearing for Haryana and additional solicitor general (ASG) KM Nataraj for Rajasthan requested the court to allow states to grant renewals at least but the bench said that it would give the final clearance.
“We will permit you to process the applications, but we will not permit you to give final clearance for mining in the area demarcated by the Forest Survey of India (FSI).”
SG Mehta told the court that no illegal mining was happening in Haryana while ASG Nataraj pointed out that mining was only permitted in isolated hillocks. The Federation of Association of Miners represented by senior advocate ANS Nadkarni told the court that any order on grant/renewal of mining leases will impact the livelihood of workers employed by the companies.
“There has to be a balance. Mining must be there but the ranges have to be protected. According to FSI, the desecration of Aravali hills is complete,” the bench said.
The court was also not in favour of a complete ban on mining. “Our experience has pointed out that a total ban on mining is not conducive to the interest of the environment as it gives rise to illegal mining,” it observed.
Advocate K Parmeshwar assisting the court as amicus curiae said that the problem emanates from the lack of a common definition of what constitutes the Aravalli hills or range. While Rajasthan claims that the isolated hills up to a height of 100 metres are Aravalli hills where mining is prohibited, Haryana does not have any definition in place.
Senior advocate ADN Rao, also assisting as amicus curiae, pointed out that the idea was to preserve the ecosystem of Aravallis. “The criteria adopted by Rajasthan suggests that I will chop off the legs while you can continue to stand. It is an ecosystem you are destroying,” he said, pointing out that mapping these areas has helped discover the extent of mining.
“There must be some rationale,” said the bench, adding, “If the height of a hill is 110 metres, you cannot say that from all sides you can keep mining till the height reaches 99 metres... Let us have a common policy for the entire Aravalli range.”
Both CEC and FSI in their reports to the court had endorsed the view that the definition of Aravalli hills would encompass hills along with a uniform 100 metres wide buffer surrounding the downslide of hills.
In 2002, the top court banned mining activities in the Aravalli region. The CEC in its reports from time to time indicated how despite the order, illegal mining was rampant and had eaten up 25% of the range. The FSI report of 2018 affirmed this fact referring to the disappearance of 31 hillocks in the region on account of illegal mining at more than 3,000 sites spread across Rajasthan and Haryana.
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