PTI | New Delhi
The Supreme Court on Thursday banned mining activities within an area of one km from national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, noting that such activities will be hazardous to the wildlife.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran was considering pleas on issues related to the notification of areas under Saranda Wildlife Sanctuary (SWL) and the Sasangdaburu Conservation Reserve as a conservation reserve in Jharkhand.
“It has been the consistent view of this court that mining activities within one km of the protected area will be hazardous to the wildlife. Though in the case of Goa Foundation, the said directions were issued with respect to the state of Goa, we find that such directions need to be issued on a pan-India basis.
“We direct that mining within national parks and wildlife sanctuaries and within an area of one km from boundary of such national park or wildlife sanctuary shall not be permissible,” the bench said.
The top court also directed the Jharkhand government to notify the region as a wildlife sanctuary.
It clarified that the rights of the tribals and forest dwellers in the region should be protected as per the Forest Rights Act and asked the state government to widely publicise it.
Earlier, the bench had asked the Jharkhand government to take a decision to declare the ecologically-rich Saranda region as a reserve forest.
The matter pertained to a long-pending proposal to notify the Saranda and Sasangdaburu forest areas in West Singhbhum district as a wildlife sanctuary and conservation reserve, respectively.
The state government, in its affidavit, had earlier said it proposed to notify an area of 57,519.41 hectares, as against the original proposal of 31,468.25 hectares, as wildlife sanctuary.
The top court rejected the Jharkhand government’s submission and said the provisions contained in Section 24(2)(c) of the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act and Section 3 read with Section 4(1) of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 amply protect the rights of the tribals and forest dwellers even after declaration of the said area as a wildlife sanctuary.
“The bogey that on declaration of wildlife sanctuary, the habitations and rights of the tribals and traditional forest dwellers will be lost and vital public infrastructures like educational institutions, roads, etc, will have to be demolished is only a figment of imagination of the state.
“Rather than taking such a stand before this court, we are of the considered view that the state should have educated the tribals/forest dwellers residing in the said areas about the rights available to them under the FRA as well as the WPA,” the bench said.
The apex curt directed the Jharkhand government to give wide publicity to the fact that by this judgment, neither the individual rights nor the community rights of the tribals and the forest dwellers in the said area would be adversely affected.
