(PTI)
The Supreme Court Tuesday refused to allow miners to transport extracted coal lying at various sites in Meghalaya. A bench of Justices A K Sikri, Abdul Nazeer and M R Shah refused to grant permission to the miners. Various Interlocutory Applications (IAs) have been filed for transportation of the coal already mined, it said.
The Bench said: “Senior counsel Shekhar Naphade, appearing for the State of Meghalaya, has stated at the Bar that the State Government has constituted a Committee in this behalf, for the entire State, to study various aspects of this matter and the Government of Meghalaya would be in a position to file the response after receiving the report from the said Committee. “He also submits that this exercise may take one month. State of Meghalaya, in these circumstances, file its response within four weeks from today. The applicants can make their representation before the said Committee in writing.”
In a lighter vain, it added: “In respect of your IA, we are saying jaiye (go).” The apex court is seized of a plea by Lber Laloo, who has filed a petition before the Supreme Court for lifting the ban on coal mining. The bench had earlier issued notice to the Meghalaya government, the Centre and others seeking their response on various issues connected with coal mining in the state. The court had said the incident, in which 15 miners got trapped in a rat-hole mine in East Jaintia Hills district, shows that illegal mining continues unabated despite the ban and the state may not be supporting it but has failed to contain illegal mining.
