CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Monday issued a stay on the National Green Tribunal (NGT) direction to the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) to deposit Rs12 crores with the Khurda Collector for reclamation and restoration of 23 black/building stone quarries of the temple.
The division bench of Justice BR Sarangi and Justice MS Raman issued the interim stay on the basis of a petition filed by the chief administrator of SJTA challenging the NGT order passed on October 14, 2022.
The temple administration contended that the Odisha Minor Minerals (Regulation & Development) Act, 1957 is not covered under the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010. Hence any order passed by NGT regarding action taken by the temple authorities on the basis of the OMMC Rules is in violation of the Act itself.
The October 14, 2022 direction was issued by NGT’s East Zone bench in Kolkata on a petition which had alleged illegal stone mining in nearly 500 acres of Puri Jagannath Temple land at different sites under Nijigarh Tapang panchayat in Khurda district. Bidu Bhusan Harichandan, a resident of Nijigarh Tapang had filed the petition.
Taking note of the SJTA’s contention, the HC division bench issued notice to the Khurda collector, member secretary of Odisha State Pollution Control Board, member secretary of State Environment Impact Assessment Authority and Bidu Bhusan Harichandan. The bench posted the matter to October 4, 2023, as the next date for a hearing on the matter.
The NGT, prior to issuing the order, had constituted a joint committee to look into the allegations of illegal laterite and black stone mining in quarries on Puri Jagannath Temple land. The committee with Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) as the nodal agency confirmed illegal quarrying. Out of the 72 quarries in Puri Jagannath Temple land, only 27 had obtained environmental clearance, consent to establish (CTE) and consent to operate (CTO). While 24 quarries do not have CTE, 37 have not obtained CTO, the committee’s report said.
The SJTA after discussion with OSPCB had identified 23 quarries where no mining operation will be undertaken. Instead, renovation, reclamation and restitution of these quarries will be undertaken. The cost of the work had been estimated at Rs12 crore.
Accordingly, the NGT had directed the Khurda collector to constitute a committee for purposes of restoration and renovation of the excavated areas in 23 quarries as per the plan already prepared, after SJTA deposited Rs12 crore. The plan involved restitution and restoration of the land by reclaiming it with pulverised fly ash and taking up afforestation immediately after reclamation.