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Time of India

SC okays consideration of delayed applications for green clearance

1 2 Jaipur: In a major relief to about 4,800 small-scale mining leaseholders in Rajasthan, Supreme Court Thursday modified its earlier order of Nov 12, 2024, and permitted consideration of their pending reappraisal applications by the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority ( SEIAA ), even though these were filed beyond the three-week time window initially allowed by the Supreme Court. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar passed the order in a batch of matters while allowing the impleadment plea and intervention of Rajasthan Granite Mining Association. On Nov 12 last year, the court had extended the deadline for completion of reappraisal by SEIAA to March 31 this year. "The delay in submission of these applications was not due to fault of the applicants but occurred due to the delayed reconstitution of SEIAA in Rajasthan, which only came into existence on Dec 10 last year—after the deadline had already lapsed. Some applications were declined for consideration due to their filing after the three-week time given by us," noted the court. Additional advocate general Shiv Mangal Sharma, representing the state govt, submitted that the state had no objection if the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) or SEIAA decided to consider these applications on merits. The court accepted the submission and clarified that the applications submitted beyond the three-week cut-off may also be considered by the authorities. It is noteworthy that the Supreme Court has already extended interim protection till May 26, allowing mining operations to continue where environmental clearances were granted by District Level Authorities.