AHMEDABAD: In a big relief to the mining lease holders across the state, Gujarat high court on Monday recalled its order asking the state government to cancel all sand mining leases that do not have environment clearance.
The bench headed by Justice R R Tripathi cancelled its order of February 14 after some lease holders questioned it by claiming that though they were affected parties, they were not heard by the court before the order was passed. They contended that it was violation of natural justice, said advocate Amit Panchal. It was also argued that the high court could not have passed such order in a private litigation, because this was not public interest litigation.
The earlier HC order had come as a jolt for the Rs 6,000-crore industry and would have affected the construction business the most. The HC had cancelled all sand mining leases within 5km periphery of national park and wild life sanctuary. There are 2,887 such mining leases that were facing cancelation. The HC had asked the government to take possession of all other mining sites and re-auction them within six months.
The lease holders also argued that the Supreme Court has not ordered for complete abolition of mining activity within 5km periphery, but has specifically mentioned that the lease holders are required to obtain no-objection certificate from the authorities concerned.
On compulsory environment clearance, the lawyers of the lease holders submitted that obtaining environment clearance is mandatory, but neither the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority nor the Centre's environment and forest department has got any mechanism to deal with the pending applications.
With the recall of the division bench's order, the case will be sent back to the chief justice, who may assign it to another bench for fresh adjudication.
