Mahan coal block: NGT dismisses plea as "infructuous"

The National Green Tribunal today dismissed as "infructuous" a plea challenging the diversion of 967 hectares of forest land in Madhya Pradesh to Mahan Coal Limited, a subsidiary of Essar Power and Hindalco, in violation of forest and environment laws.
A bench headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar, however, granted liberty to the petitioners to approach the tribunal in future.
"The counsel appearing for the parties finally conceded that in view of the judgment of the Supreme Court of India in the case of Manohar Lal Sharma Vs The Principal Secretary and Ors dated September 24, quashing the allotment of the mine in favour of the Project Proponent (Mahan Coal), the cause of action raised by the appellants does not subsist any longer.

"Thus, appeal no 18 and appeal no 34 of 2014 do not survive for consideration and have been rendered infructuous without prejudice to the rights and contentions of the parties, the bench said.
The Supreme Court, on September 24 had quashed allocation of 214 out of 218 coal blocks which were alloted to various companies since 1993.
The tribunal's order, which came over a petition by lawyer Ashwani Kumar Dubey and Mahan Sangharsh Samiti, also raises the issue of alleged felling of trees by Mahan Coal Ltd, without obtaining requisite forest clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).

In support of his contention, Dubey has referred to a 2010 letter written by the then Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stating that the proposal to grant stage-I clearance to Mahan Coal block of Essar and Hindalco is under consideration as the mine is in an area which is a 'no go zone' having "good biodiversity".