'Operations Were Liable To Be Suspended': Karnataka HC Upholds Suspension Of Quarrying Leases Within 1 Km Boundary Of Kappathgudda Wildlife Sanctuary

The Karnataka High Court has dismissed petitions challenging a government resolution which suspended fourteen quarry leases situated within a one-kilometer boundary of the Kappathgudda Wildlife Sanctuary.

In that context, the Bench of Chief Justice NV Anjaria and Justice Krishna S Dixit observed that, "The Kappatgudda Wildlife Sanctuary is a notified Sanctuary and the distance of one kilometre has to be observed treating it as prohibited area in which, mining activities cannot be allowed. It is also to be noted that the preserving one kilometre from the protected area is irrespective of the eco-sensitive zone Notification. Therefore, publication of the eco-sensitive zone Notification is of no consequence. In the present case, the quarry leases of all the writ petitioners are situated within one kilometre from the boundary of Kappatgudda Wildlife Sanctuary. They could not have been permitted and their operations were liable to be suspended and stopped."

One of the petitioners argued that it was granted a license for an ordinary building stone quarry on 3 acres of land starting from May 10, 2017, in Shirahatti Village, Shirahatti Taluk, Gadag District, for twenty years. The license was issued after obtaining environmental clearance. In 2019, the respondent authorities declared Kappathgudda Reserve Forest at Kappathgudda as a Wildlife Sanctuary. The petitioners contended that the eco-sensitive zone was not notified and the declaration was issued without jurisdiction.

The respondents stated that the Union Ministry of Environment Forests issued guidelines on May 6, 2022. According to Paragraph 1.6 of these guidelines, any activity in the eco-sensitive zone, if notified, or within 10 kilometers of the boundary of National Parks or Wildlife Sanctuaries, requires prior approval from the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) or the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (SCNBWL).

The Court observed that, "the issue of prohibiting to run and operate the quarries within one kilometre peripheral area from the boundary of the National Park or Sanctuary is no longer res integra and the Supreme Court has issued unequivocal directions banning the operations within the said periphery. Minimum one kilometre distance from the notified National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuary has to be maintained in establishing, running and operating the quarry units."

Cause Title: SR Bellary vs State of Karnataka & Ors.

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