The Kerala High Court on Monday ordered provisional renewal of permits of quarries functioning outside the ecologically sensitive areas (ESAs) in the State.
Justice A. Muhamed Mustaque asked the government to renew the licence within three weeks. The interim order was passed on a batch of writ petitions filed by 20 quarry owners. The court made it clear that the order would be applicable only to those quarry owners who had approached the High Court.
While granting the interim order, the court pointed out that since the areas in which the petitioners’ quarries were functioning had not been notified as ecologically sensitive areas, renewal could be granted provisionally.
The petitioners pointed out that the existing mining activities within these areas had been permitted for years on expiry of the permits. Despite their quarries being outside the notified ESAs, the authorities had refused renewal of permits.
The government, while opposing the plea for an interim order, submitted that the existing licences could not be renewed until a final notification based on a Kerala State Biodiversity Board report by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) was issued.
The renewal applications as well as similar permits were not considered not only due to the direction of the National Green Tribunal but mainly due to the fact that the areas where quarrying was taking place were located in the ESAs identified in the Western Ghat region by the High Level Working Group constituted by the MoEF.
However, quarrying outside the ESAs was allowed since the direction was not binding on the non-ESA villages. The people living near the quarries would be affected if quarrying was allowed in the petitioners’ quarries.
