Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Saturday ordered a judicial inquiry into the illegal coal mining at the Dehing-Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary.
Retired Justice Brajendra Prasad Kataki of the Gauhati High Court will look into the coal mining in the sanctuary since 2003, according to a release issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).
Several petitions have been filed at the high court over the issue.
Justice Kataki is also leading the National Green Tribunal's probe into Oil India Limited's gas well fire incident at Baghjan in Tinsukia district and is, at present, the chairman of the Police Accountability Commission.
The chief minister had on July 6 directed the state forest department to initiate steps to upgrade the sanctuary to a national park in consultation with the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.
The announcement came amid widespread protests against illegal coal mining at Saleki near the sanctuary by Public Sector Unit (PSU) major Coal India Limited's (CIL) arm North Eastern Coalfields.
In May, the North Eastern Coalfields had accepted that mining was going on since 2003 and claimed it had applied for renewal of its lease in 2003, but the Assam government did not act upon this for a long time.
The Centre gave the Stage-I clearance to the PSU major for 57.20 hectares in December 2019 with 28 conditions, including fines and action against responsible officers violating the Forest Conservation Act.
Accordingly, the state forest department in May slapped a penalty of Rs 43.24 crore on CIL for carrying out illegal mining activity inside the forest, known as the 'Amazon of the East', for 16 years since 2003.
In its last meeting in April, the Standing Committee of the National Board of Wild Life (NBWL) under the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change recommended the CIL's proposal for legalising the illegal mining for approval provided it fulfils the 28 conditions.
The PSU subsequently had to stop mining in the area and along with other PILs, the Gauhati High Court had issued notices to the centre, state, CIL and other stakeholders on June 4 after filing a suo motu case over it.
The Dehing-Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary is spread across 111.19 sq km but conservationists are now demanding that area expansion is a must with the 500 square kilometres contiguous area of three reserve forests surrounding the sanctuary should be included within the proposed national park.