The National Green Tribunal’s southern zone bench in Chennai has restrained Dalmia Bharath Sugar and Industries Limited (DBSIL) from mining magnesite and dunite at Chettichavadi village in Salem taluk without obtaining environmental clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
Judicial member Pushpa Sathyanarayana and expert member Satyagopal Korlapati took note that the application filed by the private industry in 2006 seeking environmental clearance was being processed by the Union Ministry at present. Therefore, they made it clear that no mining activity should be carried out before obtaining such clearance.
The tribunal noted that the State government had leased out 1,386.36 acres of land at Chettichavadi to Dalmia Cements Bharat Limited (renamed as DBSIL in 2011) for a period of 20 years on August 20, 1966 for mining magnesite. Subsequently, permission was granted to mine dunite too and the lease was renewed periodically.
In 1966, there was no statutory necessity for the industry to obtain environment clearance but the necessity arose in 1994 following the publication of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification. However, the industry filed an application seeking environmental clearance only in 2006 and it was still under consideration.
Therefore, the tribunal made it clear that the industry could not mine the minerals until the issuance of environmental clearance even though it had a valid lease till 2030.
