The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has imposed a cost of Rs. 10,000 on the state of Haryana for failing to submit a report on the steps taken to stop illegal mining in Gurgaon’s Rithoj village. In February this year, the Tribunal noted that “there was continuing illegal mining, the administration was not controlling for the same,” and that the conduct “showed paralysis of administration.” The court had then directed the Chief Secretary of Haryana to look into the matter and take remedial measures. Hearing the matter again in August this year, the Tribunal said that the authorities had filed a report however the court said, “There is nothing in the report as to what action has been taken by the authorities concerned to control the illegal mining in quantified terms. It is the pious/legal duty of the state/state authorities to control illegal mining, thus, we direct the authorities to report the action taken within three months. The next report should categorically furnish status on assessment on environmental damages already occurred in Aravalli Districts (Faridabad, Gurugram and Nuh) and their rejuvenation” The Tribunal’s Principal Bench, headed by chairperson Prakash Shrivastava, noted in its recent order that three months have passed since the order and the state is yet to file the report. The court in its recent order said, “The above series of orders passed by the Tribunal reflect that the state authorities are not taking the orders of the Tribunal seriously and are not complying with the same. No material has been disclosed even today in respect of the steps taken for stopping illegal mining in the area…No report in terms of the previous order has been filed till now." The court further added that the state would be given a week to file the report subject to depositing a cost of Rs. 10,000 in a ring-fenced account. In 2021, the court constituted a joint committee to look into allegations of illegal mining in the Rithoj area. Since last year, the NGT has observed illegal mining and the adverse effects of illegal mining were acknowledged, but no action was said to have been taken.
