‘Measure distance between bird sanctuary and quarry’

The plea moved by an environmentalist had submitted that environment clearance for mining is subject to their obtaining clearance from the forestry and wildlife angle including clearance from the Standing Committee of the National Board for wildlife as applicable. Therefore, there must be a specific approval from National Board for Wildlife, if Karaivetti bird sanctuary is located within 10 km from the mining site.

Advocate General Vijay Narayan submitted that as on date there are no materials available to indicate as to whether Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary is located within 10 km from the quarry site. Based on that, he suggested that the Wildlife Board can be directed to submit a status report on the distance aspect.

However, the division bench comprising Justice S Manikumar and Justice Subramonium Prasad before whom the plea came up cited a Supreme Court order that in case of bird/animal sanctuary or wildlife/national park a distance of 10 km should be taken as a sanctuary zone, wherein commercial mining should be restricted.

“In view of the fact that the draft notification has to be taken note of and the extraordinary zone mentioned in the draft, in which case the Supreme Court judgement would apply and hence 10 km from Karaivetti bird sanctuary should be taken as national park/wildlife sanctuary,” the benchobserved.

However, the bench while directing the Chief Wildlife Warden to measure the distance between the quarry and the bird sanctuary also directed the Ministry of Environment and Forest to verify as to whether the draft notification has been finalised and a notification issued in respect of Karaivetti bird sanctuary for fixing notified eco-sensitive areas.

The case has been posted for further hearingto April 8.