Quarrying Can't Take Place On Land Assigned Under Kerala Land Assignment Act: HC Orders Interim Stay On Quarrying Near Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary

A single bench of Justice Viju Abraham made these observations in a plea challenging quarrying activities near Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary undertaken by the respondent.

The petitioner submitted that they were residing 50 metres from the quarry, and argued that the operations were illegal on two grounds 1) the quarry was functioning within 10 km of the Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary and 2) the properties of the respondent where the quarrying permit was granted were assigned lands and no quarrying operation could be carried out as per the decision of the Kerala High Court in Raphy John v. State of Kerala.

The respondent contended that the quarrying activities were carried out after obtaining the required documents. Regarding the objectionable limit of Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary, the respondent argued that the quarry is functioning outside the eco-sensitive zone for which the clearance of the National Board of Wildlife was not required.

The court referred to its decision in Raphy John to state that the primary question before the bench was whether the property would come under assigned lands under the Kerala Land Assignment Act, 1960, or not.

Raphy John's case had stated that no quarrying operation can be carried out under lands assigned in the Kerala Land Assignment Act, it was observed.

Accordingly, the court referred to the statement filed by the Tahsildar – 8^th respondent – to maintain that the property would come under lands originally assigned under the Kerala Land Assignment Act, 1960.

It added that if further quarrying was permitted pending adjudication of rival claims, it would cause prejudice to the petitions along with causing damage to the property under question.

As such, an interim order was granted to stay the quarrying operations pending disposal of the writ petitions.

Counsel for Petitioner: Advocate R Gopan

Counsel for Respondent: Senior Advocate S Sreekumar, Advocates Leo Lukose, Enoch David Joel, S Sreedev, Rony Jose, Karol Mathews, Sebastian Alencherry and Derick Mathai

Case Title: K Sekharan v. State of Kerala & Ors.

Case Number: WP (C) 7203 of 2023