Sand quarrying in Thenpenniyar river gets HC green light

A couple of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) were filed challenging the order dated April 07, 2018 passed by the District Collector, Cuddalore, permitting quarrying of sand in Thenpenniyar riverbed over an extent of 4.80.0 hectare out of 150.88.0 hectare in Enathirmangalam Village, Panruti Taluk, Cuddalore District.

The petitioners had contended that Thenpenniyar river is primarily a dry river and gets water only during monsoon. Moreover, the water level in the river is going down, year after year and despite that the Cuddalore district administration has granted permission to quarry sand, without obtaining proper environmental clearance.

Senior Counsel P Wilson, appearing for one of the petitioner contended that that when the writ petition was filed, there was no clearance from the District Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (DEIAA), and that the said clearance was obtained only on February 12, 2019 and therefore, the entire project must be stopped forthwith.

However, refuting the claim the division bench comprising Justice S Manikumar and Justice Subramonium Prasad dismissed the two PILs after holding that proper procedure has been followed and quarrying has started only after getting environmental clearance as stipulated under DEIAA notification.

“The file also discloses that proper notices were given to all the members of DEIAA, the inspection report of the subcommittee was also placed before the DEIAA and only after taking into consideration all the aspects, the DEIAA has granted environmental clearance on May 15, 2018. The District Collector, Cuddalore, then passed an order on June 20, 2018 for quarrying sand,” the bench held.

It also noted that the Consent to Operate order was also obtained from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board on June 07, 2018.