The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed Haryana to ensure compulsory yearly drone mapping of all mining sites across the state to check allegations of rampant illegal mining, while declining the state’s request for the constitution of a probe committee headed by a retired high court judge.
The direction came during the hearing of a petition concerning alleged illegal mining activities, after the Chief Secretary to the government of Haryana filed an affidavit seeking permission for an independent inquiry with the aid of technical experts to “unearth the veracity of facts” and assess environmental damage allegedly caused due to mining operations.
A bench of Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor observed that the issue involved a technical examination of mining activities and could not appropriately be entrusted to a retired judge lacking the requisite expertise.
“While we appreciate the anxiety on the part of the State to have the facts appropriately probed/examined, for such purposes we do not deem it necessary for the state to constitute a committee presided over by a retired high court judge,” the bench observed.
The court added that the concerns raised were with regard to illegal mining.
“To what extent such illegal mining can be observed and checked would require the requisite technical expertise so that the sites are adequately surveyed and records are maintained by the concerned authorities,” the bench added.
Directing the Chief Secretary to issue necessary orders for compulsory drone mapping of all mining sites annually, the bench observed that the Haryana Space Applications Centre (HARSAC) could undertake the collection of drone and satellite imagery for mining areas across the state.
“The technical aspects which are required to be adequately probed by expert technical hands cannot be delegated to a retired high court Judge who may not have the requisite technical know-how to map such illegal instances of mining in the state,” the court held.
The affidavit filed by the Chief Secretary stated that the Director-General, Mines and Geology, had already conducted a detailed inquiry and submitted a comprehensive status report.
However, the state claimed an independent probe with technical experts was necessary to determine whether mining operations had violated mining plans and environmental clearance conditions. The matter has been adjourned to July 15 for arguments.
The case arises from allegations of indiscriminate illegal mining in Pichopa Kalan village in Charkhi Dadri district, where the petitioners alleged that mining far exceeded approved limits, damaging agricultural land, ecology and the village environment.
The bench was assisted in the matter by senior advocates Shailendra Jain and Amit Jhanji, along with counsel Himanshu Malik. The Centre was represented in the matter by Additional Solicitor-General of India Satya Pal Jain with senior panel counsel Ashish Rawal.
The high court had earlier admonished Haryana for “callousness”, possible “connivance” of officers and a prima facie case of “loot and plunder of natural resources”.
The bench had then directed the Chief Secretary to personally examine large-scale environmental violations in a mining area in Charkhi Dadri and file an affidavit explaining how the state proposed to deal with “vast extent of environmental plundering”.
The bench was told that the area falls in Arravalis.
“What is seen with the naked eye is not only disturbing but is also bewildering. It prima facie appears to be a case of blatant violation of environmental norms contained in the environmental clearance certificate as well as the mining plan, causing loot and plunder of natural resources,” the bench had added.
