Brief summary of the arguments on behalf of the appellant - Laxmi Chouhan dated August 7, 2020.

An application was filed before the NGT challenging the Environmental Clearance (EC) dated February 20, 2018 granted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to the South Eastern Coalfields Ltd. for the expansion of Dipka Open Cast Coal Mines from 31 to 35 MTPA in Chhattisgarh.

It was said that the grant of environmental clearance by the MoEF&CC was illegal, improper and irregular. It is the duty of the Expert Appraisal Committee to undertake a detailed scrutiny of the EIA report and other documents including public hearing proceedings before grant of EC. The EAC permitted the expansion to take place without the mandatory public hearing. Eventhough the provision of the EIA Notification was mandatory, it was ignored by the EAC while permitting the expansion. The project had undertaken mining in 409.056 ha of forest land in violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.

Note: The report of August 7, 2020 was uploaded to the NGT site on August 18, 2020