The Full Bench of the Meghalaya High Court, comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee, Justice H. S. Thangkhiew and Justice W. Diengdoh in the case of Shailendra Kumar Sharma vs. State of Meghalaya & ors has hoped that the State will take effective steps to identify the kingpins of illegal coal mining and take appropriate action.
The Court was informed by the learned DSGI that after orders have been passed for shutting illegal coke plants, the real persons who started the illegal operations may have abandoned most of the coke plants and the local persons or the workers may have taken over their reduced operations.
The Advocate General further submitted that the State has called upon the investigating agency to trace out the original operators and bring them to book. Additional penal provisions have, apparently, been incorporated in the original FIRs to facilitate such process. If the real culprits are well known, it would be expected of the State to take appropriate action against them in accordance with law.
Considering the arguments of the Counsels, the Court instructed the petitioner that he is given liberty to approach Justice Katakey who has been appointed to monitor the implementation of the orders of the National Green Tribunal and the Supreme Court pertaining to illegal coal mining in the State to ensure that similar illegality is not perpetuated by illegally operating coke plants.
The Court listed the matter 9 May, 2023 for next hearing.
Case Details
Case:- PIL No.9/2022
Petitioner:- Shailendra Kumar Sharma
Respondent:- State of Meghalaya & ors
Counsel for the Petitioner – Mr. A. Goyal
Counsel for the Respondent – Mr. A. Kumar, Advocate General
Judge: Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee, Justice H. S. Thangkhiew and Justice W. Diengdoh
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