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Judgment
This Application is filed under Section 14, 15, 18 read with Section 18 and 20 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 seeking directions from the Tribunal to stop illegal business of stone mining crushing activities carried out in Gat No.41, Village Rampuri, Taluka and District Aurangabad. Directions are also sought against the Government Authorities i.e. Respondent Nos. 3 to 6 to take appropriate action against illegal stone crusher machines operating in Village Rampuri, Taluka and District Aurangabad. There are other consequential reliefs sought for in respect of as well as cost of the Application.
The Applicants' case in short is that the Respondent No.1 and 7 are operating illegal stone mining and stone crushing activities, respectively, at Gat No.41 Village Rampuri without necessary permission from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board or Collector. The Applicants submit that they are engaged in imparting Vipassana meditation training to their disciples which requires a silent environment. The activities of Respondent Nos.1 and 7 of stone mining and crushing are causing noise and air pollution. This noise and air pollution is not allowing them to carry on their Vipassana meditation activities and therefore need to be stopped. They further allege that the blasting carried out in the stone mining process further aggravate the problem of noise pollution.
The Respondent No.1 submitted an Affidavit on 4 th August, 2016 and opposed this Application. Respondent No.1 submits that he has already applied for the environmental clearance and has submitted necessary details including the Mining Plan, EMP (Environmental Plan) etc to the authorities. The mining activities were carried out in past as per the permission granted by Tahsildar, Aurangabad by letter dated 9th December, 2015 to extract 250 brass stone from Gat No.41. Thereafter, similar permission was granted on 12th January, 2016. Respondent No.1, therefore, pleads that the mining has been carried out strictly as per the permissions granted. Respondent No.1 further submits that the stone crusher at Gat No.41 is just installed and a statement is made in the Affidavit that the said stone crushing activity will not be carried out without obtaining necessary permissions.
Respondent No.7 submitted that the allegation regarding the noise and air pollution and the health problem is not true and no proof or data is submitted to establish such pollution. Furthermore, the Vipassana Centre of the Applicants is more than 1 km away from Gat No.41. It is submitted that the Respondent No.7 has taken 1 acre of land from Gat No.41, on lease, for running the stone crushing. It is submitted that necessary permission from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board was taken and therefore, there is no material on record to show that there is any environmental damage or impact of the stone crushing activity.
The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board - Respondent No.4 has filed Affidavit dated 8th August, 2016 and submitted that Respondent No.2 is operating the stone crushing activity without obtaining the mandatory consent to operate and also without providing the necessary pollution control systems. The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, therefore, submits that after the visit to the plant on 20th July, 2016, it had issued Voluntary Closure Notice and subsequently directions under the Water and Air Acts have been issued on 4th August, 2016 for disconnection of electricity and water supply. Maharashtra Pollution Control Board further submits that it has not received any complaint regarding air/noise pollution due to the stone crushing and there is no record to show adverse affect of such activity on agriculture.
Respondent No.5 submitted Affidavit dated 13th September, 2016 and submits that the Tahsildar, Aurangabad by Orders dated 12/01/2016, 06/02/2016, 09/03/2016 had granted permission for excavation of the stone in the land in Gat No.41. This permission was subject to certain terms and conditions. Furthermore, the stone crusher at Gat No.41 has now been sealed and presently there is no stone crusher operating at the said land.
In view of the above submissions, the conspectus of present controversy is very limited. It is an admitted fact that there was stone mining activity at Gat No.41 which was carried out in terms of the permission given by Tahsildar, Aurangabad. Furthermore, the stone crusher was established by Respondent Nos.2 and 7 on the lease property in Gat No.41 which has now been issued closure direction by Maharashtra Pollution Control Board and the stone crusher is also sealed by Collector Aurangabad. We notice from the submissions of the private Respondents that according to them the distance between the Vipassana Centre and the Gat No.41 i.e. mining and stone crushing is about 1 km.
Furthermore, the consent to establish to the stone crushing activity given by Maharashtra Pollution Control Board also indicates distance of more than 500 mtrs.
Maharashtra Pollution Control Board is on record that Respondent Nos.2 and 7 had carried out stone crushing activity at Gat No.41 without necessary pollution control system and also the consent to operate and, therefore, we are inclined to saddle Respondent Nos.2 & 7 with appropriate environmental damages.
In our considered opinion, the present controversy can be effectually resolved by issuance of following directions on the precautionary principles:
(1) The Respondent Nos.1, 2 and 7 shall not carry out the stone mining and stone crushing activitywithoutthenecessary permission/clearance including the environmental clearance, consent to operate as the case may be.
(2) The Respondent Nos.1, 2 and 7 shall develop a green belt as per the recommendation of Maharashtra Pollution Control Board and the concerned Social Forestry Department on the edge of Gat No.41 in the direction of the Vipassana Centre in order to create a green buffer zone to mitigate the problem of noise and air pollution.
(3) The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board shall ensure that stone crushing activities are permitted and operated only with the strict compliance of the conditions specified in the consent granted by them.
(4) Respondent Nos.2 and 7 shall pay Rs.1 Lakhs as environmental damages which shall be deposited with the office of Collector Aurangabad within 04 weeks and this amount shall be used for tree plantation in Village Rampuri in the ensuing rainy season.
With these directions, Application No.80/2016 stands disposed of accordingly with no order as to costs.