- NET Web Desk
North Eastern Coalfields – a subsidiary of Coal India Limited has been found guilty for extracting coal worth Rs 4,872.13 Crores in Eastern Assam without obtaining mining rights, as informed the report of a probe panel constituted by state government.
The panel incorporating of one-man commission of Justice Brojendra Prasad Katakey has recommended to the Assam government for recovering the entire amount from North Eastern Coalfields (NEC).
According to The Hindu report, this recovery amount was calculated on the basis of NEC’s earnings from the “illegal mines” between 2003 and 2021, when it ceased operations.
Its worthy to note that the panel was constituted after the state government in July 2020 ordered an inquiry into allegations of illegal mining in Tinsukia district’s Digboi Forest Division.
The two-volume report of the panel, with more than 500 pages was prepared in April 2021 but tabled in the Assam Assembly in December 2020.
“The violation of the provisions of the 1980 Act is writ large on the said stage-I clearance granted by the government of India,” – asserted the report.
