Madras HC stays order on resuming brick kiln operations, summons officer

CHENNAI: Fuming over the state government’s order to allow sealed brick kilns to resume operations after paying part of a fine, a special bench of the Madras High Court summoned the Commissioner of Geology and Mines to appear before the court on January 19. 

The government was also directed to put on hold the order allowing operations and not to proceed further.
The bench of Justices N Sathish Kumar and D Bharatha Chakravarthy, dealing with forest-related cases, ordered the summons. The matter was related to the Tamil Nadu government’s recent order to allow 177 brick kilns at the Thadagam Valley in Coimbatore district to resume operations.

The judges questioned, “How can such an order be issued to allow the resumption of brick kiln operations even though the cases have been pending before this court and National Green Tribunal”? They suo motu made the Geology and Mines Commissioner a party respondent. 

They also directed the Coimbatore collector to file a report on whether such brick kilns are currently operating. The kilns had been sealed in 2021 for violations following a court order on a petition filed by S Muralidharan, an environmental activist.

The Commissioner of Geology and Mines recently issued an order allowing the resumption of operations by paying part of (Rs 2 lakh) of the fine, which may range from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 30 lakh, provided they obtain necessary clearance from the concerned government departments and agencies. Meanwhile, referring to the removal of exotic weeds, the judges said they would visit the Nilgiris on February 4 and 5 to inspect the progress made in the exercise.