The Supreme Court has made a big comment on the petition of Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board. The court said that there is a need to save forests in the entire country. Some states like Jharkhand have natural ecosystems, which need to be preserved. This was said by the bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice V Mohana. The CJI told the lawyer of JSPCB (Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board) that there are only a few states where we can really save our natural ecosystem and Jharkhand is one of them.
The Supreme Court said that in some states there are places of natural beauty like forests and they need to be protected. Actually, the Supreme Court was hearing a petition challenging an order of the Jharkhand High Court. In April, the High Court had issued several guidelines regarding permission for mining of stones or installation of stone breaking machines near the boundaries of forests or forest lands.
Earlier in January, the High Court had directed that no permission should be given for stone mining or installation of stone breaking machines within a radius of one kilometer from the designated boundaries of protected forests in the state. The court had passed this order on a petition challenging the notification of JSPCB, under which the minimum distance prescribed for stone mining and installation of stone breaking machines around forest or forest land was reduced from 400-500 meters to 250 meters.
In the order passed in April, the High Court had said that the ban on granting permission will be applicable within a radius of 500 meters from the boundaries of forest or forest land in case of stone mining, while in the case of stone breaking machines, within a radius of 400 meters. Now, during the hearing on the petition of JSPCB, the Supreme Court said that the board had suddenly reduced the distance.
The lawyer appearing for JSPCB referred to the observations of the High Court. He said that everything is on hold. On this the bench said that the High Court is considering the matter. Its final hearing is to be held there. Let the High Court give the final order. When JSPCB mentioned the High Court's comments, the bench said that we cannot demoralize our High Courts. We are not a headmaster who advises the High Court as to what they should and should not do.
