KOCHI: The Kerala High Court has said that quarries do not have to fulfil the distance norm of 200 metres from residential areas as stipulated by the National Green Tribunal during their valid period of licence or lease. Instead, they only need to maintain a distance of 50 metres as contemplated in Kerala Mineral Mineral Concession Rules. Justice Alexander Thomas passed the order on a petition filed by a quarrying firm from Kozhikode seeking to restrain the Central and State Pollution control Board from taking any action against the petitioner for violating NGT’s distance norm. The petitioner also sought quashing of the NGT order directing the Central Pollution Control Board and the State Pollution Control Board to follow the criteria of maintaining 200 metres from residential/public buildings and inhabited sites while considering granting permission for stone quarrying.

 However, the court made it clear that licence of quarries whose licence lease period have expired and which did not follow the distance norms set by the NGT should not be renewed. No fresh license or leases should be granted to quarries which do not maintain the NGT set distance norm. The court, however, at the same time ordered that fresh or renewal applications including those for environmental clearance, consent of the pollution control board, explosive licenses, local body licence, may be processed and such applications need not be rejected solely on the ground of non-fulfilment of the new distance norms stipulated by the NGT.

The state government submitted that the National Green Tribunal had passed the order on July 21 without hearing the state government. The distance norm of 50 metres had been prescribed by the Kerala Minor Mineral Concessions Rules, 2015. The rules had been framed under the exclusive power given by the Mines and Mineral (Regulation and Development)Act. Besides, the tribunal did not have any jurisdiction to pass such an order. In fact, the state would file a writ petition challenging the order of the NGT.   The court suggested to the state government that an expert committee be appointed to examine the ways and means to substantially reduce the demand and consumption granite mental, especially in the construction sector and road maintenance.