Supreme Court Issues Notice To Centre, Five States As Well As CBI Seeking Replies After Petition On Illegal Sand Mining
[ By Bobby Anthony ]The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the central government, five state governments as well as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in response to a plea which had sought to curb illegal sand mining across the country.Earlier, a plea filed by a certain petitioner named M Alagarsamy had sought that no environmental clearance (EC) should be accorded for any sand...
The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the central government, five state governments as well as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in response to a plea which had sought to curb illegal sand mining across the country.
Earlier, a plea filed by a certain petitioner named M Alagarsamy had sought that no environmental clearance (EC) should be accorded for any sand mining project without an appropriate environmental impact assessment (EIA), environmental management plan (EMP), and public consultation.
In addition to this, the petition had sought a direction to be issued to the central government to stop granting any environmental clearances for sand mining projects without taking into account the overall impact such projects would have on any region.
The petitioner had also sought a direction from the Supreme Court to the CBI, to register as well as investigate sand mining scams mentioned in his petition, thus effectively making the government probe agency a respondent in the case.
While hearing his petition, the Supreme Court initially suggested that the petitioner ought to move the concerned high court.
However, advocate Prashant Bhushan who represented the petitioner told the Supreme Court that sand mining is a nationwide problem.
He pressed for the petition to be considered, arguing further that illegal sand mining causes severe environmental degradation, adding that it is already a rampant problem across the country which needs to be tackled immediately.
After hearing his arguments, the Supreme Court issued a notice to the central government, the state governments of Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra, besides the CBI.
In this connection, it may be recalled that last year, the Madras High Court had upheld its order directing that all sand mining and quarrying activities in the state should be wound up.
Additionally, the Madras High Court had also issued a series of directions against illegal mining and sand quarrying within the state.