Ban on sand mining was to ensure strict compliance of law: NGT

With several states seeking modification of its order banning sand mining across the country without necessary clearance, the National Green Tribunal has said it was meant to ensure strict compliance of the law of the land.
"The Tribunal passed an order only to implement the intent of the legislature, the dictum of the Supreme Court and the law in force. It was not an order dehors the existing law but was an order that was passed primarily to ensure strict compliance of the law of the land," a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said.
The tribunal said the Supreme Court's verdict directing requirement of environment clearance (EC) for sand mining on land measuring five hectares or less was prompted by the lack of any such requirement under the environment ministry's 2006 notification which made EC mandatory only for areas which are larger than five hectares.

"This was a serious lacuna in law leading to a practice being adopted all over the country to split up the entire area into smaller portions to avoid recourse to environmental law. With the intention to circumvent rigours of the Notification, persons involved in the mining activity were getting leases of areas of less than five hectares so as not to require EC by Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) or State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA).
"Persons of the same family, even different firms, putting together, would acquire huge areas, but create leases of portions there each less than 5 hectares in names of different individuals to ensure that no occasion arises for obtaining EC by taking undue advantage of the exception carved out in the Notification itself.

"It is on mining the Centre/State is expected to get royalty. Huge mining activity was being carried on in this manner. Thus, not only resulting in non-compliance of the environmental norms as framed by the legislators but even losing genuine payment of royalty due to the Central/State Authorities," the bench observed.