Meghalaya High Court directs CS, DGP to not bow down to ‘political pressure’ on illegal coal mining

The Meghalaya High Court on October 19 directed the state chief secretary and the director general of police to not bow down to “political pressure” or “political interference” while implementing its order to completely arrest illegal coal mining in the state. 

The court warned that the Chief Secretary (CS) and Director General of Police (DGP) will he held accountable if any form of illegal coal mining activity is found in the state.

The court even directed the DGP to instruct all superintendents of police in the state to ensure that “not an ounce of once of illegally mined coal” is allowed to pass whether in trucks or other vehicles to other states.

“The chief secretary, the director general of police and all other police personnel will ensure strict compliance in such regard and will not bow to any political interference in the matter,” the full bench of the HC said in its order while hearing a PIL on the matter.

Even more, the court ordered the DGP to provide orders to all police superintendents in the state to make sure that "not an ounce of unlawfully mined coal" is allowed to leave the state in trucks or other vehicles.

According to the court, illegally mined coal is reportedly smuggled out of Meghalaya and then returned for apparent export to a neighboring country on the basis of fabricated documents that claim the mineral originated in some other state, in addition to the risky rat hole mining in the state's eastern region.

The court even enumerated that the Supreme Court issued instructions based on the National Green Tribunal's (NGT) original directives to halt all illegal coal mining in the state. The other directives given by the Supreme Court and NGT are incidental to the main body of the ruling and are intended to secure the seizure and disposal of the coal that had previously been unlawfully mined.