Meghalaya HC pulls up cops & dist admin for allowing illegal operations

Guwahati: Meghalaya high court on Thursday took suo motu cognizance of the coal mine disaster in East Jaintia Hills, where 25 bodies have been recovered so far, and pulled up district civil and police authorities for allowing such illegal operations to continue and ordered immediate arrest of the mine owners and operators.The bench of Justice HS Thangkhiew and Justice W Diengdoh noted, “It is not understood as to how illegal coal mining is continuing in this area in spite of the reported loss of life of one person in an incident that occurred on Jan 14, 2026.”A 48-year-old labourer from Assam died inside an illegal coal mine on Jan 14 in Thangkso under Khliehriat police station.The court directed the district deputy commissioner and SP to appear in person before the court on Feb 9 with the details of the action taken and to furnish reasons as to why the situation has been allowed to continue.

The court also ordered the seizure of all machinery, documents and other materials connected with the mining operations.The court’s directives came during the hearing of its ongoing suo motu case on illegal coal mining in the state, initiated in 2022.“This court has come to learn from various electronic media reports that there has been a mining tragedy again in Thangkso in East Jaintia Hills, wherein, it is reported that there has been explosion in three illegal coal mines which has resulted in the loss of life and injuries to several persons.

This court is constrained to take judicial notice of these reports,” the judges noted in the order.Coal mining activities in the state was declared illegal by the National Green Tribunal and banned in 2014, which was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2019.The high court in 2022 set up a committee headed by retired Gauhati High Court judge, BP Katakey, to ascertain whether the directions issued by the SC and NGT had been complied with.The Katakey committee in its 35^th Interim Report to the high court, filed on Jan 17, flagged East Jaintia Hills district as the most affected district in the state in terms of coal mining activities.Meanwhile, with regard to the illegal mining site at Kremlangshait Forest in Lumbangla in East Jaintia Hills, state govt in its status report, submitted before the court, said actions have been taken, including dismantling of machinery, destruction of makeshift camps, and barricading the mining site.