1 2025:CGHC:40511 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPC No. 4295 of 2025 1 - Vinod Patel S/o Dev Prasad Patel Aged About 31 Years R/o Village - Jatraj, Tahsil - Katghora, District - Korba Chhattisgarh 2 - Ravishankar Patel S/o Mahatma Patel Aged About 28 Years R/o Village - Jatraj, Tahsil - Katghora, District - Korba Chhattisgarh 3 - Basant Chandrakar S/o Late Kanshi Ram Aged About 35 Years R/o Village - Sirkikhurd, Tahsil - Hardi Bazar, District - Korba Chhattisgarh 4 - Vijay Kumar S/o Mahipal Singh Aged About 28 Years R/o Village - Padania, Tahsil - Katghora, District - Korba Chhattisgarh 5 - Manjeet Yadav S/o Maiku Lal Yadav Aged About 36 Years R/o Village - Bhadora, Tahsil - Katghora, District - Korba Chhattisgarh 6 - Brajesh Kumar Shrivas S/o Anjuram Aged About 48 Years R/o Village - Pali, Tahsil - Katghora, District - Korba Chhattisgarh 7 - Mohan Lal Patel S/o Baratu Aged About 56 Years R/o Village - Sonpuri, Tahsil - Katghora, District - Korba Chhattisgarh 8 - Rajendra Prasad S/o Patiram Aged About 32 Years R/o Village - Jatraj, Tahsil - Katghora, District - Korba Chhattisgarh 9 - Pratap Singh S/o Pitambar Aged About 54 Years R/o Village - Khodri, Tahsil - Katghora, District - Korba Chhattisgarh 10 - Ravishankar Yadav S/o Mohanlal Aged About 32 Years R/o Village - Khamhariya, Tahsil - Katghora, District - Korba Chhattisgarh 11 - Devashish S/o Dwarika Aged About 26 Years R/o Khamhariya (Vaishali Nagar), Tahsil - Katghora, District - Korba Chhattisgarh 12 - Premlal Yadav S/o Sukhnandan Aged About 35 Years R/o Village - Hamhariya, Tahsil - Katghora, District - Korba Chhattisgarh 13 - Rameshwar S/o Ramdhan Aged About 49 Years R/o Village - Pali, Tahsil - Katghora, District - Korba Chhattisgarh 2 14 - Mina Bai Kanwar W/o Shivlakhan Singh Aged About 48 Years R/o Barkuta, Tahsil - Katghora, District - Korba Chhattisgarh 15 - Baghudal Ram S/o Chamaru Ram Aged About 58 Years R/o Village Padkiyan, Tahsil - Katghora, District - Korba Chhattisgarh 16 - Mohan Sarthi S/o Firtu Aged About 38 Years R/o Pali, Tahsil - Katghora, District - Korba Chhattisgarh 17 - Suryabhawn Singh S/o Heera Singh Aged About 55 Years R/o Village - Padniya, Tahsil - Katghora, District - Korba Chhattisgarh 18 - Ashok Kumar S/o Amau Patel Aged About 35 Years R/o Village - Jatraj, Tahsil - Katghora, District - Korba Chhattisgarh 19 - Ravindra Patel S/o Saharu Patel Aged About 26 Years R/o Village - Jatraj, Tahsil - Katghora, District - Korba Chhattisgarh 20 - Rampal Patel S/o Sammelal Aged About 30 Years R/o Village - Channdra Nagar Jatraj, Tahsil - Katghora, District - Korba Chhattisgarh ... Petitioner(s) versus 1 - Union Of India Through The Secretary Ministry Of Coal, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi 2 - South Eastern Coal Fields Limited Through Its Chairman Cum Managing Director, Seepat Road, Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 3 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through The Chief Secretary, Govt. Of Chhattisgarh, Mantralaya, Nava Raipur Chhattisgarh 4 - District Collector Collectorate, Korba, District Korba Chhattisgarh 5 - Chhattisgarh Paryavaran Sarankshan Mandal Through Its Member Secretary, Paryavas Bhavan, North Block, Sector-19, Atal Nagar, District Raipur Chhattisgarh 492002 ... Respondent(s) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For Petitioners : Mr. Sudeep Shrivastava, Advocate For Respondent-State : Mr. Praveen Das, Dy. AG. For Respondent-UOI : Ms. Sweta Rai, Advocate on behalf of Mr. Ramakant Misrha, Dy. SG. For Respondent-SECL : Ms. Astha Shukla, Advocate on behalf of Mr. Vaibhav Shukla, Advocate For Respondent No.5 : Mr. Amrito Das, Advocate. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Hon'ble Shri Arvind Kumar Verma, Judge Order on Board 12.08.2025 1. Heard, learned counsel for the petitioners as well as learned counsels for the respective respondents on admission. 2. This writ petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India with with following reliefs: “10.1 That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to call for the entire records pertaining to the instant Land Acquisition Cases. 10.2 That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue an appropriate Writ/Order/Direction to direct to quash the 2 Acre criteria adopted in the Policy of the SECL related to Permanent Employment and direct the SECL to provide One Permanent Employment to every Land Oustee Family and till the employment is actually provided, to give Rs. 50,000 Per Month to such family. 10.3 That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue an appropriate Writ/Order/Direction to declare to advance the Date of Notification for calculating compensation as on the date of taking possession. 10.4 That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue an appropriate Writ/Order/Direction to the State Govt to enhance the Rates per acre of land four time of the what has been prescribed in the 19.03.2010 Govt Notification. 10.5 That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue an appropriate Writ/Order/Direction to calculate interest of 12% PA on the entire amount of compensation and not only on Market Rate value. 10.6 That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue an appropriate Writ/Order/Direction to prepare the R & R 4 Plan strictly in accordance of Section 31 of the RFCTLARR Act 2013. 10.7 That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue an appropriate Writ/Order/Direction to stop the mining operation being carried out by SECL in violation of conditions of Environment Clearance and Mining Plan. 10.8 That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue an appropriate Writ/Order/Direction to direct the SECL to comply the conditions of Stage I Forest Clearance and take post fact Stage II Forest Clearance and Final Forest Clearance from the State Government. 10.9 That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue an appropriate Writ/Order/Direction to Pay the fine imposed by Collector Korba for illegal mining and said money should be used for the benefit of the affected persons of the Kusmunda Mine. 10.10 That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue an appropriate Writ/Order/Direction to order an independent Environment Impact Assessment by a reputed institute like NEERI Nagpur. 10.11 That, this Hon'bile Court may kindly be pleased to issue an appropriate Writ/Order/Direction to Recreate Green Belt In the Kusmunda Mine and to provide safe and different place for Resettlement of the Villagers. 10.12 That, this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to pass any other order/relief that this Hon'ble Court may please deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case including grant of cost of the instant litigation.” 3. The instant writ petition is being filed by the Project Affected persons of the Kusmunda Coal Mine Project, raising several illegalities being committed by the South Eastern Coal Fields 5 Limited while operating the Kusmunda Coal Mine and in ongoing Land Acquisition Proceedings for the Expansion Project situated in the Korba District of the Chhattisgarh. It is an irony that Kusmunda Mine has been recently rated as number 4 of World's Largest Coal Mine list with its production capacity reaching to 50 Million Ton Per Annum. Though the aforesaid distinction has been achieved by violating several environmental and mining safeguards. The Mining Department of State of Chhattisgarh has also taken cognizance and issued notices to stop illegal mining and recovery of fine. The another major grievance of the petitioners is related to the Land Acquisition for the Kusmunda Mine Expansion for which the rate of compensation has been decided much lower in violation of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, (for short, ‘RFCTLARR Act 2013’). By virtue of the Govt of India Order dated 28.08.2015, provisions related to Compensation and Rehabilitation and Resettlement of the RFCTLARR Act 2013 has been implemented in all cases of the Land Acquisition done under Coal Bearing Area Acquisition and Development Act 1957, where the final possession has not been taken. The Govt of India Ministry of Coal has also directed the Coal India Limited by a letter dated 04.08.2017 to implement the aforesaid order in all cases, where the compensation has not been determined and paid and possession of the land has not been taken. The initial notification under Section 7(1) of the CB Act 1957 was issued on 26.11.2009 and also on 20.07.2015 thus the market rates are being taken of 6 that date despite there being inordinate delay of 10 to 15 years in passing award and taking possession of the notified land. In last 10-15 years, the land prices in Korba and surrounding areas have seen multi fold increase thus the calculation of the Compensation on the basis of old rates is unjust and violative of Article 300 A. 4. The petitioners are alleging following discrepancies in this case : In the EC dated 16.02.2006, the production capacity was shown as 10 MTPA, Land area in possession was shown as 1673 Hectare, out of which, 205 Hectare Forest Land. In the EC dated 03.06.2009, land area was shown as 2536 Hectare for production capacity is 15 Million Ton PA. The clearance was granted on 2536 Hectre Land with Forest Land component is now 235 Hectare and there is mentioned that the Notification for acquiring 752.456 Hectare Land was issued only in 2010 yet the EC has been granted without any Land there for expansion. In the EC dated 19.02.2014 the production capacity was enhanced 18.75 MTPA, however, the Land area now shown as 2301 Hectare by reducing the forest land component as no clearance was available for the same till then. Still the Mining was kept in 1655 Hectare and no expansion land was used. In the EC dated 03. 02. 2016 The Production Capacity now shown as 26 MTPA, in the Land Area 1449.884 Hectare. This EC granted while considering the application of SECL which claims that total mining area would be 3510 Hectare. Despite there being no land availability the EC was granted. In the EC Dated 03.07.2018 the production capacity was shown as 36 MTPA, on the land area 1655 Hectare. 7 In the EC Dated 22.01.2019 the production capacity has been enhanced to 40 MTPA in the land area 1655 Hectare. Though the production was limited to 40 MTPA, the SECL produces more like in 2019-20-42.331 ΜΤΡΑ. In the EC Dated 10.01.2020 the production capacity now enhanced to 50 MTPA normative and 62.5 Million Ton Peak in the Land Area of 1655 Hectare. 5. During course of the arguments, this Court finds that there are 20 petitioners in this case, however, there is no khasra numbers or area mentioned in the writ petition, there is no specific mentioned that which khasra number belongs to petitioner No.1, which khasra number belongs to petitioner No.2 and further there is no area specified by the petitioners. 6. It is also pertinent to mention here that in the instant writ petition nowhere it is mentioned that as to how the petitioners herein are affected persons in this case, therefore, there is no good ground to entertain this writ petition at this stage. 7. Accordingly, the writ petition is disposed of on admission stage giving liberty to the petitioners to file the better constituted petition. CC as per rules. Sd/- (Arvind Kumar Verma) Judge J/-