Meghalaya HC receives 34th Katakey report on illegal coal mining

Guwahati: The Meghalaya High Court on Thursday received the 34th interim report submitted by the Justice (Retd.) B.P. Katakey Committee, which is investigating illegal coal mining and transportation in the state.

The court informed that the state government had submitted its status report on November 26, in compliance with earlier directions. The bench said it would study both reports before issuing further orders on the next hearing date.

Justice Katakey, in his previous (33rd) interim report, noted that the government-formed Coal Audit Committee (CAC) had completed auditing the sources of coal used by various industrial units, including coke oven plants, ferro alloy plants, and cement thermal power plants located in East Jaintia Hills, West Jaintia Hills, West Khasi Hills, and South West Khasi Hills.

The audit detected 15 industrial units that had procured a total of 36,353 metric tonnes of coal from illegal sources.

Based on the findings, the CAC assessed that Rs 5.30 crore must be recovered from these defaulting coke oven plants.