Conrad Welcomes SC Coal Order

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Wednesday hailed the Supreme Court judgment of, which has set aside the ban on coal by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and has given a judgment that has recognised the rights of the tribals, stated a release issued to the media.

"The official judgment has not come out as yet but the basic gist of what we have been made to understand is that the ban that was put in by the NGT has been set aside by the SC and that the ban has been lifted," said statement.

The Meghalaya CM welcomed the judgment by saying that the most important part of the judgment is the fact that the tribal rights have been recognised.

"The fact that SC has come out with a judgment which states that the land and the resources are of the owners is landmark and historic, as it gives back the entire ownership to the people. This is the biggest victory, the biggest aspect of the judgment as a whole," added Conrad Sangma.

Sangma further said that Meghalaya has to realise the lesson learned with the ban on coal mining and its impact on the economy and should move on from now onwards by ensuring mining that is proper, scientific and systematic by adhering to rules and by ensuring utmost concern to the environmental aspect.

The Meghalaya CM congratulated the legal team headed by Advocate General Amit Kumar for all the preparations and legal formalities that were presented before the court challenging the NGT order.

"The legal team has worked tirelessly and have ensured that all necessary paper works were put in placed. There was no movement of any sort by the previous Government, we challenged the order of the NGT and the hard work put in by the legal team has yielded result," Sangma said.

The Chief Minister credited the judgment as a victory of the people, especially the tribal community.

He also had a word of advice to the people to undertaken mining by striking a balance between the economy and the ecology.

Conrad Sangma informed that the Supreme Court has accepted the contention of the State government, that a penalty of 100 Crores as imposed by the NGT would cause hardship to the small state and has therefore directed that the amount of Rs. 100 Crores be paid from the MEPRF Fund, which was created for collecting fines/penalties from persons who were engaged in illegal mining.

"Therefore, the burden of the fine has not been imposed on the government but rather on the illegal miners and transporters of illegally mined coal, whom the state government has continuously penalized for violations," Sangma said.

It may be mentioned here that a complete copy of the judgment is expected to be made available by Wednesday evening and further steps shall be notified upon receipt and analysis of the decision in its entirety