The National Green Tribunal has imposed a total cost of Rs 2 lakh on Odisha’s chief secretary and seven other officials for repeatedly failing to ensure representation in proceedings concerning alleged excess and illegal sand mining in Angul district. Each of the eight respondents has been directed to pay Rs 25,000 and file replies within a month.
The east zone Bench, comprising Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and expert members A Senthil Vel and Ishwar Singh, passed the order in a case involving the Nizgarhzami Sand Quarry, locally known as the Gopinathpur sand quarry, in the Brahmani river under Talcher tehsil. The allegations relate to mining beyond the permitted lease area and extraction in excess of authorised limits.
The case was brought before the tribunal by a Talcher-based NGO through advocates Sankar Prasad Pani and Ashutosh Padhy. According to the tribunal’s order, the respondents had appeared through the state counsel on the initial dates, but none had been represented on their behalf on the last few dates.
The eight officials named in the order are the chief secretary, the principal secretary of the water resources department, the deputy director of mines for the Talcher circle, the regional transport officer of Angul, the tehsildars of Talcher and Parajang, the superintendent of police of Angul and the inspector-in-charge of Talcher police station.
The tribunal said the absence of counsel had caused unnecessary adjournments and delayed the resolution of environmental issues. It described the non-appearance as deliberate and said exemplary costs were required to remedy the situation. The bench also stated that proceedings before the tribunal could not be treated as adversarial litigation in which government respondents choose to remain absent and face ex-parte action.
The tribunal further observed that the state and its instrumentalities have constitutional and statutory obligations to ensure compliance with environmental norms. It said respondents must file replies containing relevant details and remain represented through authorised counsel or representatives. The bench noted that the State of Odisha and some of its instrumentalities were not generally appearing before the tribunal or filing responses despite receiving notices.
The issue had previously been brought to the attention of the chief secretary and the advocate general of Odisha, with the tribunal saying that instructions were required to ensure compliance with notices and representation in proceedings. The Angul collector was not fined because the concerned tehsildar appeared on the collector’s behalf through videoconferencing.
The respondents have been given one further opportunity to submit their responses within one month. The Rs 25,000 cost imposed on each official must also be deposited with the tribunal registrar in Kolkata within the same period. The matter is scheduled to come up for further hearing on December 4.
