THIRUVANANTHAPURAM | Jan 03, 2015: The department of geology, which had earlier violated and misrepresented Kerala Minor Mineral Concession Rules (KMMCR), to facilitate illegal quarrying at Mookkunnimala has now come up with an order that defies court orders and existing norms.
The district geologist has revoked the stop memo issued to KK Rocks and granites to carry on mining operations at Mookkunnimala.
The stop memo issued in October was based on an HC order which said that no quarry shall be allowed to function without environmental clearance (EC). In its order issued on December 18, geologist Geetha S R cancelled the stop memo in the guise of obeying court orders. She cited a Supreme Court order, without getting into its details, and said that permit can be renewed.
The copy of the Supreme Court order reveals another story. In its order, the court had mentioned that it was only recording a submission filed by the state government. Advocate Harish Vasudevan, the counsel for Mookkunnimala Protection Council, said that this was a blatant misrepresentation of court order. "Nowhere does the court say that quarries can function without EC. Besides any proceeding is marked as order and the geologist has conveniently tweaked that order to meet the purpose," he said.
When contacted Geetha justified that she was only following high court and Supreme Court orders.However, the high court had ordered that any permit application should be considered in accordance with the law. Geetha tweaked this verdict and implied in her order that permit can be renewed even without EC.
She relied on an amendment, struck down by the high court order long ago, to cancel the stop memo.The amendment said that quarries with valid permits before 2012 should be allowed to renew permits for another three years.
(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)