Meghalaya HC directs Govt not to permit limestone mining without sanction under MMDR, Act

SHILLONG, MAY 6: The Meghalaya High Court on Friday directed that no extraction of limestone will be permitted without obtaining appropriate sanction under Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.

Hearing a PIL, the two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W Diengdoh said, “In the meantime, whether or not the loopholes have been plugged as submitted by the State, the State should ensure that no extraction of limestone is permitted without obtaining appropriate sanction under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.”

This was after the state had filed an action taken report on the matter. The Advocate General pointed out that several amendments have been made to the Meghalaya Minor Minerals Concession Rules, 2016 to plug the loopholes that existed.

The court has appreciated that the State makes a clean breast of the earlier mistakes in the said Rules of 2016.

However, the petitioner, Lawyerson War maintained that the illegal mining of limestone continues unabated even though the State has no authority to grant any permission for any limestone quarrying since limestone is a major mineral and, only in the exceptional case when limestone is used in kilns for manufacturing of lime as building material, would limestone would be regarded as a minor mineral.

According to the petitioner, on the basis of the permits or permissions issued or granted by the State, influential persons are carrying on regular business in limestone and selling the limestone to parties in Bangladesh or even to cement manufacturers in Meghalaya and nearby States.

In view of this, the court said, “Since the allegation of limestone being extracted and openly sold with the State permission has not been squarely levelled in the original petition, it will be open to the petitioner to use a supplementary affidavit to indicate the petitioner’s perception as to the present position in such regard.”

The next hearing on the matter will be held on May 31.

By Our Reporter