Revoke order dispensing with public consultation for mining of atomic minerals: Stalin tells Centre

Chennai, Sep 12 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday urged the Centre to immediately withdraw the September 8 Office Memorandum exempting the requirement of public consultation for all mining projects of atomic minerals.

Also, he reiterated Tamil Nadu’s commitment to contributing to the nation’s strategic and defence requirements, as has always been done in the past.

The Office Memorandum (internal communication) was issued by the Environment Impact Assessment Division of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, dispensing with the requirement of public consultation for all mining projects of atomic minerals notified in Part B and critical and strategic minerals notified in Part D of the First Schedule of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act.

It has further been directed that all such projects shall be appraised at the central level, irrespective of the lease area involved.

In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Stalin said Tamil Nadu's coastal districts were endowed with deposits of rare earth elements embedded in beach sand systems. These coasts were ecologically fragile and highly vulnerable.

The sandy beaches of the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay were home to endangered turtle nesting grounds, coral reefs, mangroves, and sand-dunes that serve as natural barriers against erosion and cyclonic events. These ecosystems sustain biodiversity, stabilise shorelines, sequester carbon, and safeguard coastal communities.

"Mining in such regions is therefore inherently eco-sensitive and demands rigorous scrutiny with the fullest involvement of local communities," Stalin said.

He pointed out that the EIA Notification of 1994, as amended in 1997, introduced mandatory public hearings, a landmark step that has since become integral to participatory environmental governance. This safeguard was reinforced in the EIA Notification, 2006.

"Exempting projects from public consultation would deprive local communities of their right to raise legitimate concerns relating to livelihood loss, displacement, and environmental impacts, and would weaken the principles of participatory democracy," the Chief Minister said in the letter.

Further, the OM raised serious legal concerns, he said and pointed out that the National Green Tribunal had in the past struck down Office Memorandum which sought to dilute statutory safeguards. The Supreme Court held that substantive amendments to the EIA framework cannot be brought about by way of executive instructions such as OMs, and that such instruments cannot override statutory notifications.

"The present OM, by dispensing with public consultations, amounts to an impermissible executive amendment of law and is therefore unsustainable. Policy changes of such significance must be deliberated transparently in Parliament and State Legislatures, with due consultation of the States and the public," Stalin said.

Proceeding otherwise would run counter to the spirit of cooperative federalism and to the democratic ethos of our country, he said and urged the Centre to withdraw the Office Memorandum at once. PTI JSP ROH