New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday stopped the French cement giant Lafarge from carrying out mining of limestone at its mines in Meghalaya for its cement plant in Bangladesh saying mining in the eco-friendly cannot be allowed.
A Special Forest Bench headed by Chief Justice K G
Balakrishnan stayed the mining activities on the basis of the
Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) report which said
that the company was extracting minerals from the land falling
in the forest area.
The MoEF came to the conclusion that the permission for
extracting limestone, a key input for making cement, from the
region of Shella village in East Khasi Hills districts in
Meghalaya was allegedly obtained fraudulently by showing the
forest land as barren land.
"In this eco-fragile area, we will not allow mining,"
said the Bench also comprising Justices S H Kapadia and Aftab
Alam.
"You (Lafarge) stay it for one month in terms of the
MoEF report," the Bench said disagreeing with the French
company's senior counsel Abhishekh Manu Singhvi and Mukul
Rohatgi that the work at the quarries be allowed to continue
on payment of amount higher than the Net Present Value (NPV)
of the land.
Senior advocate Harish Salve, who is assisting the court
as amicus curiae in the forest matter, and P S Narasimha,
appearing for the tribals of Shella village, submitted that
the company cannot be allowed to continue with the mining
activity without the clearance of the MoEF.
PTI
First Published: Friday, February 05, 2010, 19:18