Recently, in the matter of Tennydard M. Marak & ors Vs State of Meghalaya, the Bench of Meghalaya High Court headed by the division bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W. Diengdoh directed the State Government to implement Strict Rules to Stop Plundering of Natural Resources. 

While hearing a PIL regarding overloading by trucks carrying coal and other goods, the Court said that it's a pending matter for such a long time and dragged on the Court for more than a year with very little effort or intent on the part of the State government to check the menace of overloading of goods vehicles that the petitioner perceives to be rampant across the State.

The bench pointed out that despite the State’s assurance to adhere to subsisting court and tribunal orders and representations to the contrary, illegal coal mining continues unabated. 

"Orders of the court disbelieving the State on the basis of material available have cut no ice with the State. Even previous orders indicating that the State appears to be complicit in the illegal mining industries have been quietly digested. Indeed, even if local inhabitants are driven to illegal mining, for want of any other source of livelihood, if the illegal transportation thereof across the State were to be arrested, there would be no demand and, consequently, the illegal mining would come down or stop altogether,’ the bench said.

Recent orders of the court have referred to a mischievous tweak in the rules that have allowed illegal mining to be carried out and in the name of ‘incidental mining', thousands of tonnes of the mineral have been disposed of without any license being obtained or any norms being adhered to.

 “Is complicit in the wanton plundering”, and that several of the roads, including some of the key roads or bypasses that lead to the southern North-East states are in a pitiable state. The extent of the damage is primarily due to overloading of vehicles that the State seems to do little about,” the bench noted.

The Court also directed the Transport Secretary to seek the assistance of the Indian Institute of Management, Shillong to prepare a blueprint in this regard.