The Gauhati High Court has escalated its measures against top Assam officials over their failure to comply with orders aimed at curbing illegal coal mining activities in the state’s protected forests. The court has summoned the principal secretary of the state’s home and political department, and the Director General of Police (DGP), demanding their personal appearance on February 14 unless significant progress is reported a day earlier.
Justices Kalyan Rai Surana and Malasri Nandi, presiding over the division bench, expressed their concerns about the continuous disregard for judicial directives, stating, “Ordinarily, government officials holding top positions ought not to be called before this court. However, if personal appearance is not ordered, it appears that no affidavits are being filed.”
The summons follows a public interest litigation (PIL) initiated in 2020 by environmental activist Mrinmoy Khataniar, which challenges the proposed diversion of 98.59 hectares of forest land in the Saleki proposed reserve forest (PRF) for open cast mining, a project granted to Coal India Limited. The PIL also seeks the designation of the Dehing Patkai elephant forest reserve and surrounding areas as ecologically fragile regions, along with a demand for the Jeypore forest reserve and nearby proposed reserve forests to be declared wildlife sanctuaries.
Further complicating the matter, the PIL calls for a high-level investigation by either the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) into the alleged failures and legal violations by forest department officials and Coal India operatives.
Despite the passage of approximately 22 months since the PIL was filed, the required affidavits detailing the steps taken to halt illegal mining have not been submitted by the mentioned authorities. This has led the court to consider initiating contempt proceedings against the erring officials for adversely affecting the administration of justice through their non-cooperation.
