Sustainable development and precautionary principle led to suspension of mining in the Aravalli area until certified restoration measures were in place.
Extensive mining in the Aravalli Hill Range had caused irreversible ecological degradation, including land damage, groundwater impact and abandoned pits, and the Court treated continued extraction as unjustified where statutory rehabilitation, reclamation and restoration duties were not complied with. Applying sustainable development and the precautionary principle, it adopted a macro, holistic environmental assessment rather than a project-specific approach. Mining operations in the identified area of Haryana were suspended until a reclamation plan, certified by the competent authorities, was prepared and implemented.
Issues: Whether, in view of continuing ecological degradation in the Aravalli Hill Range and repeated non-compliance with mining and environmental safeguards, all mining operations in the specified area were liable to be suspended until a duly certified reclamation plan was prepared.
Analysis: The Court noted that earlier warnings and restrictions had not prevented extensive mining from causing land degradation, groundwater damage, abandoned pits, and other environmental harm in the Aravalli region. It relied on the constitutional commitment to environmental protection and the statutory framework governing mining, forest clearance, environmental clearance, rehabilitation, reclamation, and restoration. The Court treated the matter as requiring a macro and holistic assessment rather than a project-specific approach, and held that where mining has proceeded without necessary remedial measures and the ecological injury has reached an irreversible stage, continued operations cannot be justified on the principle of sustainable development. The Court further observed that rehabilitation and reclamation duties under the applicable mining and environmental rules had not been complied with.
Conclusion: All mining operations in the Aravalli Hill Range within the identified area in Haryana were suspended until a reclamation plan, certified by the competent authorities, was prepared and implemented.
Final Conclusion: The decision prioritised ecological restoration over continued extraction and held that mining activity in the affected area could not proceed until restoration and rehabilitation requirements were duly satisfied.
Ratio Decidendi: Where extensive mining has caused irreversible environmental degradation and statutory rehabilitation and reclamation requirements have not been complied with, the Court may suspend mining operations on the basis of sustainable development and the precautionary principle until a certified restoration plan is in place.
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