The Meghalaya State Co-ordination Committee of Coal Owners, Miners, Exporters, Transporters and Dealers Forum on behalf of the Joint Action Committee of Nongalbibra, South Garo Hills, had recently filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in Supreme Court.
They filed the petition urging the apex court to intervene and pass necessary direction to the Meghalaya Government to permit those trucks stuck on roadsides, export routes and highways to pass through check gates and weighbridges and to proceed to their destination.
Chairman of the Meghalaya State Co-ordination Committee of Coal Owners, Miners, Exporters, Transporters and Dealers Forum, Sonny L Khyriem said that the coal loaded trucks stranded in Garo Hills, particularly in South and North Garo Hills districts and they were in transit prior to the Supreme Court order on January 15 that stopped transportation of extracted coal.
“The date for hearing on this matter is awaited but an appeal mentioning the urgency of the concerned subject was also prayed accordingly,” Khyriem said.
According to Khyriem, the Forum had been spearheading the appeal for re-opening of coal mining in Meghalaya after the ban was imposed since 2014.
“The Forum has through its senior advocate in Supreme Court, Rajiv Dutta and his team of counsels reiterated the appeal on February 19 before the Supreme Court on the need to revive coal mining in the State based on the proposed mining plans as submitted by the past and the present state governments to the Central Government. In this regard, the Supreme Court has on February 19 directed the Central government to take a final decision within one month,” Khyriem said.
The matter in this light will be heard on March 26 next.