Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has halted all mining activities being undertaken around the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan. No mining activity will be permissible within one-km radius of a critical tiger habitat (CTH), it said.
A Bench comprising Justice BR Gavai, SVN Bhatti and Sandeep Mehta also asked the Rajasthan Government to formulate a closure plan or take necessary steps for compliance with its orders and listed the matter for further hearing in July.
“We hold that any mining activity within 1 kilometre from a critical tiger habitat (CTH) will be violation of our April 26, 2023 order,” the Bench said and added: “We direct Rajasthan to forthwith prohibit mining activities from one kilometre of CTH (tiger reserve) at Sariska.”
Godavarman case
The apex court was hearing an application, moved in the TN Godavarman case pending before the forest Bench since 1995, seeking to stop mining activities within onekm radius of Sariska tiger reserve located in Alwar district. The court was informed that 110 mines were operating within the area in violation of its April 26, 2023, decision that prohibited mining within one km from the boundaries of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.
The Rajasthan Government told the court that the prohibition on mining, as ordered in April last year, was applicable to the eco-sensitive zone (of 1 km) from national parks and wildlife sanctuaries and it did not apply to tiger reserves.
‘Contrary to law’
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for Rajasthan, said the CTH serves as a buffer zone for the protection of Sariska wildlife sanctuary. She also pointed out that of the 110 mines, only 60 were operating within the 1-km radius.
The Bench, however, said the stand taken by the state was “contrary” to law. “Section 38XA of Wildlife Protection Act as interpreted by this court (in the recent judgment prohibiting tiger safari in Jim Corbett Park in Uttarakhand) will show that tiger reserve stands on a higher pedestal than wildlife sanctuaries and national parks,” it remarked. “The interpretation by state is without reason,” it said.
“Don’t do anything in the 1-km radius or if you wish to continue, then we will extend our order to 10-km radius, as fixed by our earlier order passed in June 2022,” the Bench warned the Rajasthan Government.
