Supreme Court panel pulls up Assam Government for inaction on mining near Kaziranga
The Supreme Court-constituted Central Empowered Committee (CEC) flagged inaction by the state administration in curbing mining-related activity near Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve
The CEC's communication to the state's Chief Secretary noted that mining and allied activities have continued in catchment areas of rivers and streams originating in the Karbi Anglong hills, despite a 2019 Supreme Court order banning such activity in this belt
The panel also flagged the state administration's failure to submit requested data on construction activity along Kaziranga's designated animal corridors, a request first made in 2022
The development coincides with a separate state proposal to reduce Kaziranga's Eco-Sensitive Zone from the default 10 km down to a range of 1-3 km, citing a 2022 Supreme Court ruling on zone boundaries
Central Empowered Committee (CEC)
The CEC is a Supreme Court-mandated monitoring body for forest, wildlife and environment matters, originally constituted in 2002 in the T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India case — the long-running forest conservation litigation that has produced several binding pan-India directions since the 1990s. It was given statutory backing through a 2023 notification issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
Key Details
- Constituted by Supreme Court order dated May 9, 2002, in the Godavarman case
- Functions include field verification, fact-finding reports to the Supreme Court, and monitoring compliance with the Court's environmental orders
- Given permanent statutory status via a 2023 MoEFCC notification, while the Supreme Court retains jurisdiction over its findings
- The CEC's composition was revised in recent years to comprise government-appointed members, removing the earlier non-governmental members
The CEC's letter to the Assam Chief Secretary is precisely this monitoring function in action — reporting non-compliance with an existing Supreme Court mining ban directly back to the Court.
Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZs)
An Eco-Sensitive Zone is a buffer area declared around a protected area (national park or wildlife sanctuary) under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, to regulate activities like mining, industry and construction that could harm the core protected ecosystem. ESZs are not part of the protected area itself but act as a "shock absorber."
Key Details
- Legal basis: Section 3(2)(v) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, read with the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986
- 2011 guidelines from the (then) Ministry of Environment and Forests direct states to submit site-specific ESZ proposals; absent a notified boundary, a default zone of up to 10 km applies
- Kaziranga has not had a final site-specific ESZ notified, so the 10 km default has continued to apply
- A 2022 Supreme Court ruling on Goa mining-adjacent litigation held that ESZ boundaries can extend up to 10 km from a protected area's edge, a ruling now being cited to justify reducing Kaziranga's zone
The proposal to shrink Kaziranga's ESZ from 10 km to 1-3 km sits directly on this legal framework — the debate is over how much of the buffer zone remains under the stricter regulatory regime that restricts mining and construction.
Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and Tiger Reserve Status
Kaziranga is both a National Park and a Tiger Reserve, categories with distinct legal protections under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Tiger Reserves follow a core-buffer model introduced through the 2006 amendment to the Act, which also created the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
Key Details
- Kaziranga was declared a National Park in 1974 and notified as a Tiger Reserve in 2006-07
- Section 38V of the Wildlife (Protection) Act mandates preparation of Tiger Conservation Plans, distinguishing inviolate core areas from buffer/peripheral areas where regulated activity is permitted
- Kaziranga is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (inscribed 1985) and hosts the world's largest population of the greater one-horned rhinoceros
- Mining within the core or in catchment areas that feed the park's ecology (such as Karbi Anglong hill streams) directly threatens both the Tiger Reserve mandate and rhino habitat
The mining activity being flagged occurs in the catchment of rivers draining from Karbi Anglong into Kaziranga, linking an upstream land-use issue to the statutory protection owed to a core Tiger Reserve.
Wildlife Corridors
Wildlife corridors are landscape linkages that allow animal movement between habitat patches, essential for genetic exchange, seasonal migration (notably during Brahmaputra floods, when animals move toward the Karbi Anglong highlands) and long-term population viability. They do not have a separate standalone statute but are protected through directions under the Wildlife (Protection) Act and Supreme Court orders in forest-conservation litigation.
Key Details
- Kaziranga has nine identified animal corridors connecting it to the Karbi Anglong hills, used especially during monsoon flooding
- The Supreme Court-appointed panel first sought construction details along these corridors from the state government in March 2022
- Unregulated construction and mining along these corridors fragment habitat connectivity and increase human-wildlife conflict during floods
The state's continued failure to furnish corridor-construction data, alongside continuing mining, is the second compliance failure flagged by the CEC in the same communication.
- Kaziranga National Park area: approximately 430 sq km, spread across Golaghat, Nagaon and Sonitpur districts of Assam
- UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985; notified as a Tiger Reserve since 2006-07
- Home to the world's largest population of the greater one-horned rhinoceros
- CEC constituted by Supreme Court order dated May 9, 2002, in the Godavarman case; given statutory status via a 2023 MoEFCC notification
- Supreme Court order dated April 12, 2019, banned mining and related activity in the catchment areas of rivers flowing from Karbi Anglong into Kaziranga
- Default Eco-Sensitive Zone: up to 10 km per 2011 MoEFCC guidelines, absent a site-specific notification
- Nine identified animal corridors link Kaziranga to the Karbi Anglong hill ranges