Kochi: Kerala High Court on Friday reiterated that environmental clearance is mandatory for running a quarry. The court also observed that the undertaking given before the Supreme Court by the UDF government that the existing permits for quarrying in less than five hectares would be renewed without insisting on environmental clearance was against the law laid down by the Supreme Court.
Justice K. Vinod Chandran passed the order while dismissing a batch of writ petitions by quarry owners seeking a directive to renew their licences on the basis of the undertaking given by the government before the Supreme Court. The judge said that the court could not digest the stand of the government.
The Supreme Court had made the environmental clearance mandatory even for less than five hectares considering the adverse impact on environment. “It was incomprehensible as to how an undertaking which could override the authoritative decisions such as the one in Deepak Kumar case could be made by the government,” the court observed.
