Udaipur, November 12, 2024 - The Supreme Court today delivered its verdict in the Special Leave Petitions (SLP) filed by Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh against the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order of August 8, 2024. The Supreme Court bench, comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjeev Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, heard the arguments and agreed to extend the time for completing the reappraisal by March 31, 2025.

The Court further directed that any person who has not preferred an application seeking appraisal should be presented before the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) within 15 days. A direction was also passed that in States where SEIAAs were not constituted, the authority should be constituted forthwith within a period of six weeks. The matter is next listed in the top five category of matters for hearing on January 25, 2025.

Arguments were pressed on behalf of the counsel appearing for both the Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh mining associations, Shraddha Deshmukh, who said that the said pan-India directions have been passed by the NGT without hearing the affected parties. She also argued that in the absence of an authority in existence in the State, the implementation of the timeline of completing the reappraisal by November 13, 2024, is impossible and unenforceable. She further submitted that if the order is sustained, then grave prejudice would be caused to the mining leaseholders, whose livelihood will be entirely impacted in the States.

This order will have a wide and pan-India impact and impacts the continuity of mining operations across the country.

Readers may recall that Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and MP had filed SLPs against the NGT order of August 8, 2024, to suspend environmental clearances for mining activities in the States. The Supreme Court had, on November 8, 2024, issued an interim order granting an extension to the operation of mines in the three States till November 13 and set November 12 as the next date of hearing.