Legal Status of Coal as Biological Resources under Indian Biodiversity Law: Conflict and Constraint
Abstract
The legal ramifications of coal as biological, as well as a mineral resource, came for adjudication in Bio-Diversity Management Committee v. Western Coalfields Ltd. before National Green Tribunal (NGT). The coal company extracted medicinal plants in the name of excavation of coal in violation of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. The Madhya Pradesh State Biodiversity Board (MPSBB) and Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC) of Eklahara asserted that the coal is a fossil fuel and entitled two per cent royalty out of Rs 1,470 crore revenue from Western Coalfields Limited as access and benefit-sharing (ABS). The coal company articulated that coal is historically as well as legally has never been a biological resource. The paper dwells on the legal status of coal as natural resources in techno-legal context and traces its repercussions on biodiversity conservation and ABS regime in India.
Keywords: Biological Resource, Mineral Resource, Commercial Utilization, Equitable Benefits Sharing, Biodiversity Governance.