The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted time to Central government to file a report explaining how commercial coal mining in Jharkhand would not have an adverse impact on the environment. The court expressed its intention to formulate a committee of experts and put an interim stay on the auction of coal blocks.
The court was hearing the plea filed by Jharkhand government challenging the Centre’s decision to auction 41 coal blocks for commercial mining. The Jharkhand government has approached apex court as 9 of the 41 coal mines are in Jharkhand and the state alleges that it would destroy forests and tribal culture and customs. Further the auction would also not fetch adequate price as per the Jharkhand government.
The bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde expressed the court’s intention to formulate a committee of experts to ascertain the ecological impact of the commercial coal mining project. Chief Justice said, “we want to satisfy our conscience on the environment. Make everything available to the committee from state and center and let the committee take a call within a month. You either don’t take a decision for a month or we stay it.”
