The Kerala High Court has asked the Director of Mining and Geology Department and its geologist in the district office along with other authorities to carry out detailed inspection of all the quarries operating in the Vengola and Kizhakkambalam panchayats of Ernakulam to find out whether the quarries are functioning legally.
The order was issued by Justice Devan Ramachandran on a writ petition filed by Mary Alias and C.Y. John.
The court directed the officials to seek the assistance of the environmental engineer of the Kerala State Pollution Control Board and the secretaries of the two panchayats to “verify whether all such quarries are being operated in terms of law and in compliance with all the licences and consent obtained by them.”
The court ordered the inspection as a “random check of about four or five quarries seems to have shown certain deleterious deficiencies.”
The petitioners sought the intervention from the court to inspect and report the total number of quarries functioning in both the panchayats and to find out whether all the quarry units possessed statutory licences and permits to operate.
They also sought to get a directive to an advocate commissioner to inspect the major quarries and to find out whether they were following the standards of effluents fixed by the Pollution Control Board regarding the dust, air and treatment of water and its disposal.
