Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, the high courts and the National Green Tribunal
The authorities have taken necessary actions to protect Pandavanpara — a hillock of tall granite boulders located in Neyyattinkara, Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala, a joint committee informed the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The tribunal was responding to a petition on July 11, 2023. The applicant alleged that companies had been using explosives to carry out mining near Pandavanpara. Such activities adversely affect the site and destroy the rocks that support the hillock. If this continues, Pandavanpara will collapse, he added.
However, the committee could not identify any active mining projects on the site, but it found a few rocks that were mined in the past. The joint committee visited the site in August 2022.
The Department of Archaeology had taken initiatives to protect the 3.15 acres of land around the site. The team could not find any evidence of inflicted environmental damage in the area. Moreover, the area is now monitored by the police and the entry of the public to the site is also restricted.
The Kerala State Pollution Control Board and State Environment Impact Assessment Authority had not granted any clearance for mining projects in that location. Measures must be taken to protect Pandavanpara as it is of great historical and archaeological significance, the committee observed.
The NGT directed the Secretaries of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and Union Ministry of Power (MoP) to submit a joint report suggesting a viable solution to ensure 100 per cent utilisation of fly ash.
The tribunal on July 13 was responding to an application that challenged the two notifications issued by MoEF&CC in late December 2022. The notifications violated provisions of the Hazardous Waste (Management, Handling and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016, the petitioner added.
The applicant also challenged the advisory dated February 22, 2022, issued by the MoP, saying it contravened environmental rules.
On July 14, the NGT directed against the expansion of brick kilns in Budgam district until the Jammu & Kashmir Pollution Control Committee (JKPCC) ensures compliance.
The tribunal was responding to a petition alleging the unauthorised operation of nearly 200 brick kilns in Budgam.
The NGT directed JKPCC to act according to the rules and ensure that brick kilns are brought within the ambit of the consent conditions. Action should be initiated against brick kilns that operate without the consent of the State Pollution Control Board.
In September 2022, the NGT constituted a committee to look into the matter. Most brick kilns in the district violated the different environmental laws / consent conditions, the committee observed. These kilns have been threatening human health and agricultural production.
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