Meghalaya HC asks MHA to deploy 10 companies of CAPFs to check illegal coal transportation in the state

The Meghalaya High Court has ordered the Union Home Ministry to send 10 companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) to the northeastern state to monitor the movement of illegally mined coal.

This was said by a high court bench led by Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee while hearing a PIL on the subject.

"The Union Ministry of Home Affairs, through the Home Secretary, is directed to ensure the deployment of 10 companies of appropriate Central Armed Police Force to be commanded independently or jointly by officers from the local police that may be selected by the Court, strictly for the purpose of keeping vigil on the roads and arresting the illegal transportation of illegally mined coal in the state," the court stated. 

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It further directed that the Union Home Ministry's answer be made accessible through the secretary when the case is brought up again. 

This came after the Deputy Solicitor General of India, Dr Mozika, stated that the Central Industrial Security Force is unwilling to take on the assignment of deploying 10 companies to check illegal coal transportation in the state, primarily because the nature of the work does not fall within the CISF's usual activities. 

The court stated that it did not request the deployment of the CISF in particular, but rather that it desired a more independent force to check the illegality because the Central Reserve Police Force is directly controlled by the state police. 

"The true intention of this court was for the local police not to be involved in the process because it had been ineffective in this regard," the order stated. 

The high court further noted that, notwithstanding the CISF's apparent hesitation, the relevant force would be bound by the court's ruling.
 
"Rampant illegal mining of coal has continued in the state," the court stated, "and such illegally mined coal has been allowed to be freely transported, even to the extent of being regularly exported to Bangladesh by possible false declarations that the coal originated elsewhere."